The High School Titans
by Sirius Blaak
Summary: This story is about the Titans as regular high school kids. This is the story of how they all meet and become best friends. Pairings used: BBRae, RobStar, CyBee, AquaJinx PS. I finished editing, so it's all nice looking now!
1. Raven's fun day in history

_A/N: In this story, the Teen Titans are regular teenagers who go to a regular school and tackle regular problems. Their main personality traits are the same, and I tried to tie in the aspects of their powers as best I could. The Teen Titans do not start out as best friends in this story. They all know each other by sight, but they really get to know one another in this story. So this is basically the story of how the 'regular' Titans meet._

_Oh yeah, and before I forget, I do not own the Teen Titans or any other TV characters mentioned in this story.

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As Raven walked into her fourth period history class, her violet eyes performed their regular examination of the classroom. Although she was into the second week of her sophomore year of high school, her eyes still seemed to think that this was only the first day.

There were only five other people in the classroom, apart from herself. Since her third period class, chemistry, was in the same hallway as history, she was always one of the first people in the classroom.

Raven walked briskly to the far end of the classroom to reach her desk. She dropped her black backpack heavily to the ground, and slid ungracefully into her seat, some of her long black hair swishing into her face as she did so. She impatiently pushed it out of her eyes and unzipped her backpack. Inside were at least five heavy books and many notebooks and binders. She pulled out one of her notebooks and placed it onto her desk.

As soon as she had put her notebook on her desk, she heard a squeal. Raven rolled her eyes. She did not have to look to discover the source of that noise.

Terra and Kori. Both cheerleaders, popular, outgoing, and, to put it shortly, everything Raven was not. Raven grudgingly allowed herself to look up and see what the cause for the squeal was.

Terra was talking animatedly to Kori, her hands waving in the air as her mouth moved about a hundred miles an hour. Kori was giggling in an annoyingly girlish way, one of her slender hands pressed over her mouth.

Deciding that this was a conversation she did not want to eavesdrop on, Raven pushed the left sleeve of her dark green shirt up a few inches so she could check her watch. The small digital clock read, '9:56.' Only one more minute, and the bell that signaled the beginning of class would ring. And he would be coming into the room in three…

Two…

One…

Raven felt her breath catch in her throat as she looked toward the door. Her cheeks flushed, and she suddenly became conscious of the fact that she had spilled water on herself as she had cleaned up her chemistry experiment the period before.

Garfield began walking his usual direct route to his seat, but was immediately forced to take a detour due to the fact that half of the class had started cheering and blocking his way. The reason why was apparent immediately.

Garfield had dyed his hair green.

Every school year since fifth grade, during the second week of school, Garfield dyed his brown hair another exuberant color of the rainbow. He had started with neon yellow, and worked his way through all the colors until he had reached his favorite, green.

Raven could not help but think that green suited him best out of all the colors he had tried. Garfield usually wore earthy colors, so the green fit in as part of his regular attire. It also matched his emerald eyes perfectly.

Garfield took his seat, after humbly waving away all the cheers for his new hair color, as the bell rang. Raven felt her cheeks grow warmer as his eyes met hers for a second before he turned around to face the front of the classroom.

"All right, everybody, settle down," Their history teacher, Mr. Funkaa entered the room, late as usual. The chatter died down immediately, save for a shrieking giggle produced by Terra.

"Sorry," she murmured as the whole class turned to look at her.

"Today," Mr. Funkaa began talking once more, and the class quickly turned to look at him, "we will be assigning partners for our projects on Ancient Egypt."

Raven, who had been doodling absentmindedly on the back cover of her notebook, looked up. She was greatly interested in Ancient Egypt, and was very excited to finally start on the project they had been told about a week before.

Mr. Funkaa pulled a sheet of paper out of a folder that had been lying on his desk. Raven heard a scrape of metal on tile, and looked to her right to see Terra scooting her chair closer to Kori's. She rolled her eyes for the second time that period.

Mr. Funkaa had also noticed this, but his reaction was less sarcastic. He smiled slightly before saying, "Sorry girls, but I have assigned partners for this project."

Terra slumped in her chair and pushed herself back to where her assigned seat was.

"When I call out your names, please sit by your assigned partner. Now, since the two of you –" He glanced toward Terra and Kori, "seem to want to know who your partners are, I will not delay in telling you any longer. Terra, you will be working with Garfield."

Raven felt her spirits sink and rise at the same time. She had been hoping to be paired up with her green-haired crush. On a happier note, now that she knew she was _not _paired up with Terra, she did not have to worry about having a squealing cheerleader for a partner. Nevertheless, she felt a pang of envy as she watched Terra pick up her backpack and flounce over to take the seat next to Garfield.

"Kori, your partner is Raven."

Raven shook her head slightly, sure that she had misheard. She was paired up with _Kori_? She had to work with a squealing, over-excited cheerleader who was probably going to make her do all the work?

Raven sighed softly as she picked up her backpack in one hand and her notebook in the other and crossed the classroom to sit in the empty seat by Kori.

"Hi," Kori whispered. She was smiling from ear to ear, looking as happy as she would have if she had been paired up with Terra.

"Hi," Raven repeated, trying to sound happy. She managed a small smile. She placed her notebook on the desk in front of her, dropped her backpack to the floor, and sat down. Her hair swished into her eyes again, and she hastily tucked it behind her ears.

'_I should get it cut soon_,' she thought as Mr. Funkaa read out the rest of the partners.

"Now, I want one partner to come up and pull a topic out of this hat," Mr. Funkaa, who had just read the last pair of students, held up a blue baseball cap. Although he was holding it upside down, Raven could still read the baseball team name embroidered on it: Boston Red Sox.

Kori jumped out of her seat immediately and half-skipped half-walked up to where Mr. Funkaa was holding the hat. She reached in and pulled out a small, folded slip of white paper. She hop-stepped back to her seat, unfolded the slip of paper, and smoothed it out on the desk between Raven and herself.

"Briefly outline the history of the Valley of the Kings, then give a detailed report on five of the more well-known and/or intricate tombs. Include pictures, maps, and (if available) charts." Kori read the slip of paper aloud.

Raven whipped her notebook open, quickly found a pen in her backpack, and began writing.

"We should definitely include the tomb of King Tutankhamen," she said shortly, hastily scribbling everything she knew about the boy pharaoh across her notebook page.

"Oh, yes," Kori agreed excitedly. She bent down so as to get something out of her purple backpack, which made her next sentence muffled. "We should also write about Hatshepsut."

"How do you know about Hatshepsut?" Raven asked as Kori straightened up, a red notebook in one hand and a neon pink pen in the other.

"I love Ancient Egypt," Kori said, as her smile grew wider. "I've been interested in it since we did those projects in 7th grade. I did a report on the mummification process. You were in my class, right?"

"Yeah. I did a report on Tutankhamen. It was so long and drawn out that everyone zoned out after the first minute."

"I didn't," Kori's smile softened from an enthusiastic grin to a friendly smile.

"Thanks," Raven smiled back. She was beginning to think that doing her Egypt project with a cheerleader was not going to be so bad after all.


	2. Robin takes the gold in Pickle Ball

_I would like to thank Elven Dragon Rider, bb-and-raven-rock, and skuller31 for reviewing my story. Thanks a bunch!_

_This chapter is told from Robin's point of view._

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. (If I did, my brother and sister would be mobbing me by now...) Enjoy and please review!

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"Today we will start our first unit: Pickle Ball."

Robin looked around his fifth period gym class. All his classmates were standing still, looking perfectly harmless and innocent. But Robin knew what would come next. Mr. Lonng, his gym teacher, would tell everyone to pick a partner, and the mad dash to stand next to your best friend would start, leaving several people with swollen toes.

"Everyone pick a partner," Mr. Lonng instructed, and, just as Robin had predicted, everyone scrambled around, trying to find a partner. He even heard someone shriek, "Ow!" which was an unmistakable sign that someone would end up with a swollen toe.

As the mad dash subsided, Robin looked around to see who, like himself, had been left partner-less. There were two girls and three boys.

The two girls stood about five feet apart from each other. Robin knew both of them, one better than the other. One of them was African American with short black hair that was pulled into a small ponytail. Robin knew her name was Bea and that she was a tennis player. The other was a tall, beautiful redhead cheerleader named Kori, whose presence always caused Robin's heart to beat a little faster.

The two girls looked around, and, seeing each other, quickly closed the gap between themselves.

Robin looked around at the three remaining boys. One was named Johnny Rancid, and Robin hoped that he did not get stuck with Johnny as a partner.

Johnny had hated Robin ever since kindergarten, when Robin had accidentally stepped on his favorite red crayon, which broke it in two. Robin had apologized over and over, he had even given Johnny his own red crayon, but nothing he said or did could make Johnny forgive him.

Robin watched in relief as Johnny sidled over to one of the other remaining boys. Robin did not know who the boy was, but seemed to think that he and Johnny would get along fine; they both had permanent frowns etched on their faces.

Robin smiled as the last remaining boy walked over to stand next to him. This boy was African American, tall, and very muscular. Robin knew that his name was Vic, and that he was the captain of the football team, but that was all he knew about the football wonder.

"Hey," Robin greeted him.

"Hey," Vic echoed. "You lookin' forward to pickle ball?"

"Who isn't looking forward to pickle ball?" Robin answered Vic's question with one of his own.

"Right on, man," Vic held out his fist, and Robin punched it lightly. The two of them stopped talking as Mr. Lonng began giving out instructions again.

"Everyone get a paddle and a ball and go to a court."

Robin and Vic were the first to reach the crate which held the blue and red plastic paddles. Robin claimed a red one; Vic took blue. Vic picked out a wiffle ball and the two of them walked over to the court in the middle of the gym and stood on one side of it. Johnny and his partner, both still wearing frowns, claimed the other side of the net.

"Ready to get squashed, birdy-boy?" Johnny sneered at Robin.

"Not really," Robin shrugged. "Why? Did you think you could actually beat us?"

Johnny scowled. His partner shot Robin a very cold look before turning to give Vic a glare that plainly said, "I hate your guts."

"If I could make faces like yours, Mammoth, I would send you the same look back," Vic told the boy angrily.

The pickle ball that followed this argument was one of the most intense Robin had ever participated in. Vic and the boy called Mammoth pelted the ball at each other so hard Robin was surprised the balls did not have dents in them by the second round. When the ball was passed over to Johnny or Robin, they sent it spinning back at such sharp angles that the other had to dive into the air just to reach the ball.

All in all, it was a fair matched game. The ending score was 2 to 1, leaving Robin and Vic the victors.

"Boo-yah!" Vic yelled when Mr. Lonng came over to tell them that the game was over. "Put 'er there, man!" He held up a fist again, and Robin punched it, just as he had done at the beginning of the period. Johnny and Mammoth said nothing, just skulked off to the locker room with their frowns etched deeper into their faces.

"Why is that guy called Mammoth?" Robin asked Vic as they headed to the locker rooms to change out of their sweaty gym uniforms.

"Because he's the strongest guy on the football team," Vic said quickly, then smirked. "And he just doesn't like his real name."

"What's his real name?"

"Morgan. No one's called him by it since sixth grade." Vic and Robin chuckled as they entered the locker rooms.

"Well, see ya later, man," Vic said as Robin and he turned opposite directions to go to their lockers.

"Yeah. See ya," Robin waved over his shoulder.

He quickly found his gym locker, then had to pull his sweaty shirt (which was sticking to his skin) off without drenching his spiked hair in sweat. He did so quickly, then dried himself off, used his amazing stick of deodorizing power, then pulled on his red polo shirt and jeans.

Robin then slung his red backpack over one shoulder, closed his gym locker, and exited the smelly changing room. He crossed the gym to stand by the exit that led to the back hallway.

He immediately felt himself go pink as he saw Kori. She was sitting on the bleachers with Bea, chatting away happily. Although she was not looking at him, he still felt nervous to be around her.

Robin felt himself go pinker as Kori looked up from her conversation, saw him, and gave him one of her dazzling smiles. He smiled back nervously, then stood with his back against the gym wall, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Hey, Robin," Robin started at the sound of Kori's voice uttering his name.

"Y-yes?" he asked, feeling rather flustered.

"Was the Latin homework just to read over 'Testamentum'?" Kori had her purple assignment book open on her lap, and she was holding her signature pink pen in her right hand.

"And answer questions 1, 2, and 5," Robin added quickly.

"Thanks," Kori said gratefully, then jotted down what he had told her into her assignment book as the bell rang, signaling the end of the period.

Robin began walking along the back hall, heading for his history class. However, he had only taken six steps when his backpack, which was still slung over one shoulder, was kicked. This caught him off balance, and he tripped and fell.

"Aww, the clumsy birdy fell," a sneering voice laughed. Robin did not have to look to know who it was that had kicked him. He picked himself up quickly and turned to face Johnny.

"Back off," Robin frowned. "Pickle ball's just a game. Winning doesn't matter."

"Oh, the birdy thinks I'm mad at him for beating me at pickle ball!" Johnny faked a surprised gasp. "Well, that just shows how incredibly stupid the birdy is." Johnny cracked his knuckles, brought his right fist back behind his head, and began to swing it in for a punch.

Robin caught his hand with his left hand easily, and pushed Johnny's hand back so that his fingers uncurled and his hand made a 90 degree angle with the rest of his arm. He grabbed Johnny's wrist with his right hand, took hold of his elbow with the left, and twisted his arm so that Johnny was not only unable to move it, but he was in a painful position.

"I said BACK OFF!" Robin said angrily. He gave Johnny's arm one last twist, then released him. Johnny cradled his injured arm in his unharmed one, still sneering at Robin. Robin shrugged, then turned to continue his progress down the hall. He took two more steps, and felt a foot collide with the back of his left leg.

Robin fell to the ground once more, cursing the fact that the back hall was almost always deserted. He let his backpack fall to the ground, then stood up, ignoring the pain in his leg.

Robin turned to see Johnny once more, the sneer still present on his face.

"Just let it go!" Robin found himself shouting. "Leave me alone!"

"And what'll you do it I don't?" Johnny laughed tauntingly. "Run home to momma bird?"

"Don't make me hurt you," Robin said warningly, fighting to keep his voice calm. The crack about his mother had made something inside him snap.

"You hurt me?" Johnny said, quickly balling both hands, even his injured one, into fists. "I'd love to see you try." He brought both of his fists behind his head, and swung them both toward Robin, aiming directly at his face.

Robin reacted in a split second. He crossed his hands in front of his face, then as Johnny's hands were about to make contact with his face, he karate-chopped outward with both of them. Hard.

These karate chops caught Johnny's wrists, stopping his two punches. Johnny howled in pain, hastily withdrawing both arms.

"You stupid bird! I won't be able to play pickle ball for a week!" Johnny yelled. Then, as if he had just realized that it had been the 'little birdy boy' that had hurt him, he yelled, "That didn't hurt!" and sprinted away.

Robin shrugged, picked up his backpack, then dashed his history class.

Robin did not look it, but he was very strong, and owned a second degree black belt in karate. Most people did not believe him when he said he took karate, for he looked scrawny and lanky. Little did they know that he had muscles as firm as rocks underneath his T-shirt, and the most impressive six-pack of all the sophomores.

Robin entered his history class just as the bell rang. After muttering a quick apology to Mr. Funkaa, he slid into his seat, feeling slightly pleased with himself. Johnny was not going to be bothering him anytime soon.


	3. Garfield gets a date

_This chapter is told from Garfield's (or Beast Boy's) point of view._

_Thank you to bb-and-raven-rock, my lone reviewer. Keep 'em coming! I'm updating- just for you :)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Or Roy. Cuz he's a Titan too. And he's really cool. And if you don't know who he is, you'll find out later. And I'm gonna stop rambling and get on with the story.

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Garfield entered his sixth period math class, and was immediately greeted by the cheers that had been following him everywhere. He ran his fingers through his now green hair, and smiled as what seemed like the entire class began talking at once.

"Dude! Awesome hair!" a boy Gar had never spoken to before yelled.

"That's SO much better than the blue!" Another boy, named Roy, punched Garfield's arm lightly.

Garfield's smile widened, and he took his seat as the bell rang. He looked around the room, and heard several girls giggle as his eyes fell on them.

"Everyone take out your homework and check it with the answer keys I'll pass around," Mr. Lootz began handing out photocopied sheets of paper that sported the answers to all of the previous night's homework.

Mr. Lootz put six papers on Garfield's desk. He handed one to Roy, who sat next to him, then turned around to hand the papers to Raven, who sat behind him.

She blushed as he looked at her, and hastily tucked a lock of long black hair behind her ear before taking the papers from him. He gave her a small smile before turning back around, which made her turn pinker.

As Garfield bent over his desk to begin checking his homework, he noticed that a scribbled note had been placed on his desk. It said,

_Hey Gar, Love the hair. Green looks awesome on you. Wanna go to the homecoming dance with me? Terra_

Garfield blushed as he read the note. He had had a crush on Terra since the end of last year, but he never thought she would notice him, with or without the colorful hair. He smiled as he wrote out his answer.

_Terra, Roses are red, violets are blue. My answer is yes, I'll go to the dance with you. –Gar_

He knew it was a really corny way to say yes, but he was not the type to scribble 'yes' or 'no' on a piece of paper and leave it at that. He folded the note and wrote 'Terra' on the outside. He passed it to Roy, who passed it to Megan, who passed it to Liz, who passed it to Terra.

Gar watched as she unfolded the paper. She laughed softly, then looked up and winked at him. He winked back, feeling his cheeks glowing. Then he quickly turned back around to check his homework.

"So, you've got a date with Terra," Roy whispered.

"Um, yeah," Gar said, looking up from his homework. "How'd you know that's what I wrote?"

"I didn't," Roy said with a grin. "I just knew what her note said, and the rest was pretty obvious."

Garfield let out a soft snort of laughter, and resumed looking over his homework. He had checked over half of his problems when Mr. Lootz asked for the answer sheets back.

Gar turned around automatically to take the papers from the people behind him. Raven was turned in her seat to take the answer keys from the people behind her. When she turned to face him, Gar noticed that she was still pink in the face, though her expression was a little less friendly than it had been before.

Gar smiled politely as he took the answer keys from her and turned around to hand them to Mr. Lootz. Mr. Lootz collected the sheets from the other people in the front row, placed them in a neat pile on his desk, then took up a piece of chalk and began to write on the board.

"Today we will learn how to solve three-part equations with three variables," he said as he wrote down the title for that day's notes. Gar copied down the title quickly. He watched, not really paying attention, as Mr. Lootz wrote three equations down on the board.

The rest of the class passed rather uneventfully. The class took notes on everything that was written on the board, copied down the homework, then were free to do whatever they wanted for the remaining four minutes.

As soon as Mr. Lootz announced that they were allowed to talk amongst themselves, Terra jumped out of her seat and practically ran over to where Gar was sitting, trying to shove his math binder into his already full-to-bursting green backpack.

"Hey, Gar," she said in a girly, sing-song voice. Garfield abandoned his hopeless attempt to make his backpack swallow another binder and looked up.

"Hey, Terra," he said, standing up and putting his binder on his desk.

"Thanks for saying yes," Terra began curling a lock of hair around her finger.

"Thanks for asking," Gar said, putting his hands in his pockets, something he did when he was nervous.

"So, what color tie are you wearing to homecoming?" Terra asked after a three-second silence.

"A green one that has little blue circles that look like eyes on it," Gar said immediately.

"Okay," Terra said slowly. "Why are you wearing a tie with eyes?"

"All the better to see you with, my dear," Gar cackled in a high-pitched voice. Terra giggled.

"All right then. I'll have to get a green or blue dress to match it." She smiled, which made Gar's heart miss a beat. He smiled back.

The bell rang, signaling the stampede to get to seventh period. Terra and Gar each muttered a quick 'Goodbye!' to each other before Terra rushed out of the room, most likely hurrying off to tell her friends that she had gotten a date for homecoming.

Gar smiled to himself as he began his battle to get his binder into his backpack. After much pushing and shoving, he managed to squeeze it in between his chemistry and Latin books.

He quickly zipped up his backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and headed for the door. He reached it at the exact same second Raven did.

"Ladies first," he said, stepping backward and bowing.

"Thanks," she said quietly, going pink as she walked out of the door in front of him.


	4. Chorus class and Kitten

_Kori's point of view._

_I would like to give a big thank you to bb-and-raven-rock, Elven Dragon Rider, i feel awfully random, and Glaciours for their awesome reviews! You guys make me wish i could stay up all night typing. Unfortunately, I can't. :( And my computer time is getting limited (die stupid homework!) so the next chap might not be up for a while. I know what'll happen, its just the matter of finding time to type it. ;)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. If I did, Homecoming part 1 would not have been as amazing. That episode rocked! And without any further ado, my story!

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"Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la ti, do! Do, ti, la, sol, fa, mi, re, do!" Kori sang out happily in her seventh period chorus class. She was standing in the second row of chairs, right next to a girl named Kat, or, as she liked to be called, Kitten.

"Very good, girls!" Mrs. Pontire praised the girls' Choral Ensemble as if they had just come in first place in a marathon. Kori smiled happily at her teacher's praise.

"I bet she says that to all her classes," Kitten said under her breath, so that Mrs. Pontire could not hear her. "Everyone knows we suck."

"I believe we sound very good, especially when singing the Hallelujah Chorus," Kori whispered to Kitten, making her jump. Kitten had obviously not realized Kori could hear her.

"Shows how much you know," Kitten rolled her eyes.

Kori chose to ignore this comment and focused all her attention on singing the warm-ups as best she could.

Chorus was Kori's favorite class of the day. Not only was it right after her lunch period, so she was full of energy, but it was also the only class Kori felt she could really push herself to her limits in.

Every other class was largely based on how easily you could grasp a concept, memorize vocabulary, and remember dates and names of long dead people. Kori was always able to remember all these extremely quickly, so those classes were a breeze.

Chorus, however, was a challenge. Kori was not the best singer in the world, and she had to train her voice to be able to sing all the high soprano notes she had to reach. She also worked very hard on her breathing exercises, which came in handy when she was singing a long phrase (or cheering the football team).

"Everyone take out Hallelujah Chorus," Mrs. Pontire pulled out her own battered copy of the famous piece and set it down on the piano so she could accompany the girls on the piano.

Kori quickly opened her chorus folder and pulled out her copy. It was a very old copy of the music, as it was taped together in many places, and the once white paper was rather yellow.

"Let's start at the beginning," Mrs. Pontire began to tap her foot in time with the beat. "Sopranos first. One, two, ready, go!"

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" Kori sang out, matching every pitch, even the extremely high notes, perfectly. She noticed that Kitten was not able to reach all the high notes, and that her voice sounded rather raspy.

"Good! Now the altos. One, two, ready, go!" The altos began singing their lower part, and Kori followed along in the music.

"I feel like I'm at church choir practice," Kitten mumbled darkly.

"What is wrong with being at church choir practice?" Kori asked, looking up from her music. She herself was in a church choir, and she enjoyed it very much.

"At my church, everyone expects me to sing beautifully all the time just because I'm in chorus at school," Kitten answered. "When I can't match a pitch, the choir director makes me sing in front of everyone until I get the notes right."

"I believe that that is good practice," Kori said, trying to reason with this complaining girl. "Singing in front of your choir group can prepare you for singing in front of the church."

"Whatever," Kitten straightened her pink headband. She opened her chorus folder, and took out a small piece of pink paper. Almost every inch of the paper was covered with the words, 'Kitten and Robin forever.'

Kori felt a small pang somewhere in her stomach region. She did not understand why she all of a sudden felt like tearing that piece of paper up until it was confetti size. She had never had any feelings for Robin, so why should she feel so angry with Kitten for writing his name all over this piece of paper?

'_I never had feelings for him until now_,' Kori corrected herself, knowing what was happening. She was starting to like Robin more than just a classmate. More than just a friend. She was starting to _like_ Robin.

"All together now, girls!" Mrs. Pontire called, jerking Star out of her confusing thoughts.

As Kori sang along with the altos, she barely paid attention to the beautiful harmony the voices created like she normally would. She was too busy trying to sort out her confusing feelings.

'_If I like Robin, why did I not realize it until now?_' Kori wondered. '_Why did something Kitten wrote on a piece of paper affect me like that?_'

They came to the end of the phrase, and Mrs. Pontire cut them off.

"Good work girls," she said, tucking a lock of her blonde hair behind her ear. "Very good. Put that away, and let's move on to 'A Joyful Cannon'." Kori tucked her battered copy of the Hallelujah Chorus into her folder, and pulled out her crisp, new copy of the cannon.

"Altos first," Mrs. Pontire instructed. Kori placed her folder with the music neatly on her lap as the altos opened their music to begin singing.

"So, do you think I've got a chance?" Kitten whispered to Kori as the altos began singing.

"A chance of what?" Kori asked, puzzled.

"A chance that Robin will go to the homecoming dance with me, of course," Kitten said, half exasperated, half dreamily.

"Oh," Kori felt her newfound anger rising in her chest. "I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"Because you're popular and know these kinds of things," Kitten rolled her eyes again.

"I do?"

"So you're telling me that you don't gossip about everyone?"

"Of course not. I don't gossip."

"Oh," Kitten sounded as if she thought Kori was lying. "Well, as long as Robin doesn't get a date before the day's over, I'm gonna ask him to go to homecoming with me." She hugged her chorus folder.

"Now the sopranos!" Mrs. Pontire called out, and Kori hastily opened her music. She began to sing, but her mind was not focused on her music at all. She had one thought permanently cemented in her mind: 'I have to ask Robin before Kitten does!'


	5. Vic meets Mr Sanguis

_The following takes place between seventh period and ninth period, on the day of the homecoming ticket sale. Right now, a boy named Grover plots the downfall of a classmate. My name is computer genius Vic, and this is the most interesting day of my life. (24 anyone?) Please review!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Vic, Mr. Sanguis, or Grover. I will give anyone who guesses Mr. Sanguis's true identity correctly a piece of pie. -holds pie under your nose- smell it. Isn't it good? It's pumpkin...

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Vic headed down the stairs to the tech ed lab, looking forward to his eighth period robotics class. Although he knew no one in his class, he still enjoyed himself.

As the stairs ended, Vic slid his backpack off his back and into his right hand. He tossed it on the shelves that bordered the doorway that led to the tech ed lab. Most of the class was assembled around these shelves, talking about the upcoming pro-wrestling match.

Vic entered the technology education lab, and continued on throughout the manufacturing lab, computer lab, and classroom until he reached the robotics room. He was the second person to enter the class. A very small, short boy that looked like an elementary school student was already sitting in his seat.

Vic muttered a polite, "Hello," as the boy looked his way, then sat down in his own seat, which was right in the front of the classroom.

The late bell rang, and all the other students who had been hanging out by the backpack shelves entered the classroom, noisily taking their seats.

"Everyone, quiet," Mr. Sanguis, the robotics teacher, entered the classroom, lugging a large and, judging by the way he was carrying it, heavy box. He set it down on his desk with a loud thump.

The talking died away slowly, and when it did, Mr. Sanguis began talking once more.

"Today we will start learning the rules necessary to build our robots," He said in a slow, calm voice. "This is very basic, but most of you will find it difficult. However, once you have memorized the rules, you will be able to construct almost any robot you can think of. But before we begin, let me show you some of the robots my previous classes have made."

He reached into the large box, and drew out something that looked like a mess of wires.

"This may not look very impressive, but I assure you, it is. The student who created this did not have enough time to properly finish it before the semester was over, so it was left without an exterior. When I press this button…" He trailed away, and pressed a small, black button that was on the side of the mass of wires.

A rumbling sound was heard, seeming to come from the center of the wires. A small light that had been placed beside the button lit up.

Vic smiled slightly as he watched this demonstration. He had been able to create things like that since he was in elementary school. The rest of the class, save the small boy, looked very impressed.

Mr. Sanguis showed them another robot, this one more complex than the last. This one was also just a mess of wires, but it was able to make noises, light up a light, and part of it could move.

Vic watched, almost bored, as his teacher showed them robot after robot, and almost fell asleep while learning the rules necessary to build a robot. When Mr. Sanguis caught him not paying attention, he asked Vic to close his eyes and read the rules aloud to the class without looking at his paper.

Vic stood up, turned his paper over, and recited the robotic rules perfectly. He did not miss a single word. He sat back down, feeling pleased with himself.

Mr. Sanguis looked suspicious, but did not say anything.

"Now, for our next class, you must know the rules of robotics for your quiz." There were groans from the boys in the back. "I expect all of you to score at least an eighty percent, or you cannot move on to the physical work. Vic, I expect one hundred percent from you."

"That's what I expect to get," Vic said quietly.

"What was that?" Mr. Sanguis took a step closer.

"I said that that's what I also expect of myself, Mr. Sanguis," Vic said, looking his teacher straight in the eye.

For some reason, Vic did not like his robotics teacher. He seemed to have a bad aura around him. He also seemed stuffy and the kind of person that would not help people if they began falling behind.

"So, how'd you cheat on the rules?"

Vic started. He looked to his left, and saw the small boy looking at him with an unpleasant sneer on his face.

"What are you talking about, man?" Vic frowned at the small boy.

"Come on, cludge-head. No one could possible memorize those in five minutes."

"I already knew them," Vic said, frowning at the name 'clude-head.'

"Sure you did," the boy sneered.

"I did," Vic said, so firmly that the sneer dropped off the boy's face for a second.

"Vic, Grover!" Mr. Sanguis barked. "Stop talking and listen to what I'm saying!"

Grover put his hand in the air as soon as Mr. Sanguis stopped giving them his order. Mr. Sanguis pointed to him.

"I would appreciate it, sir, if you would call me Gizmo," Grover said, putting an almost sarcastic emphasis on 'sir.'

"Very well," Mr. Sanguis nodded, crossing out something on a piece of paper, which Vic took to be Grover's – or Gizmo's – name on his seating chart. He scribbled on the paper for a second, then looked up, putting his pencil down, just as the bell rang.

The entire class, Gizmo among them, bolted out the door. Vic was left alone in the classroom with Mr. Sanguis.

"I am very disappointed that you would cheat on the first day you learned something," the teacher said before picking up his heavy box of robots and walking into the next room.

Vic frowned. He had a feeling that his robotics class was not going to be as fun as he had hoped.


	6. Robin gets a date

_This chapter is told from Robin and Kori's points of view. :)_

_I do not own the Teen Titans. If I did, Red X would not have been in the lineup of villains. And neither would Bob and The Source. I was crying as the screen went through all those villains...and seeing all the Titans and their allies on computer screens...-shudders- that was kinda scary. Anyone wanna talk about the last episode? My screen name's SiriusBlaak. IM me:)_

_For those of you who didn't notice, I changed the rating from K+ to T. That's because a few future chapters will involve, umm, high school dance material? Well, let's just leave it at the fact that I go into some detail about what happens at the dance. (It's nothing sick) And I also have a, um, evil father character coming up. Four guesses which Titan has that father...

* * *

_

Robin was greeted by an excess of giggling as he entered his last class of the day: English. A girl with short blonde hair, whose name was Kat, was the one doing the giggling as she sat in her seat in the front of the class.

Robin took his seat, which was right behind hers. He dropped his red backpack onto the floor and took out his vocabulary homework, laying it in the center of his desk. He was in the process of getting a pencil out of his backpack when he heard someone say his name.

"Yeah?" he straightened, up, looking around for the person who had said his name. To his great surprise, and delight, it was Kori. She had taken her seat, which was next to his, and had turned in her chair so she could face him.

"Are you going to homecoming?" she asked. Robin felt himself blush.

"I'm not really sure," Robin said nervously. Then, deciding to go out on a limb, he added, "I want to ask someone, but I think they're already going with someone."

"Same here!" Kori said, smiling as always. Robin started at this answer. So Kori was not already going with someone! He could still ask her, but if he was not the person who she wanted to go with (Robin mentally sighed at the thought that that person could be him), then she would say no.

Robin had just decided to ask her, but his thoughts were interrupted by someone else saying his name.

Robin smiled politely to Kori before turning to face the front of the room, to see Kat sitting backwards so she could talk to him.

"Do you have a date to homecoming?" she asked, twirling a lock of her blonde hair in her left hand.

"No, but –" Robin began.

"Will you go with me?" Kat asked before he could finish.

Now Robin was really in a pickle. He had just seconds ago been trying to figure out the best way to ask Kori to go to homecoming with him, and now he was the one who had to decide on the answer!

If he turned Kat down, he still would have a chance with Kori, but he would end up staying home the night of the dance if Kori was going to ask someone else. If he said yes to Kat, he would not go with Kori, but he would at least be able to see her at the dance.

He looked Kat straight in her blue eyes, and said, as if he was reciting a boring speech,

"Yes, Kat, I will go to homecoming dance with you." (_A/N: Yes I know I'm evil. If you think that's bad, you should see what I did in another story of mine…_)

Kat let out a squeal of delight, then flung her arms around Robin and squeezed his neck. He felt like he was losing not only his ability to breathe, but the circulation in his entire head area.

"Can't breathe," Robin said in a hoarse voice. Kat hastily released him.

"Sorry," her voice was rather high-pitched. "And call me Kitten."

"Okay, Kitten," Robin said.

SWITCH TO KORI'S POV!!!!

"Hey, Robin!" Robin smiled politely to Kori before turning to face Kitten.

'_No! Don't talk to her! Talk to me!_' Kori found herself thinking frantically. She thought wildly, racking her brain for anything that she could do the get Robin to stop talking to Kitten.

"Do you have a date to homecoming?" Kitten asked Robin, twirling her hair in a most annoying way. Kori begged Robin to lie and say yes.

"No, but –"

'_Dang!_' The word exploded in Kori's mind.

"Will you go with me?" Kitten asked before Robin could finish his sentence.

Kori abandoned all thoughts of breaking up their conversation. It was too late. Kitten had asked.

'_Please let the late bell ring so class will start_,' Kori pleaded with the bell system. '_Ring, bell. RING!_'

"Yes, Kat, I will go to homecoming dance with you."

Kori heard the words as if she were in a nightmare. They seemed to echo inside her head, ringing out so loudly that her head started to throb. She barely heard Kitten's scream of triumph, or Robin's strangled plea.

The words stopped echoing around her head, and she heard the late bell ring, fifteen seconds too late for her taste.

BACK TO ROBIN!!!

As the late bell rang, Robin sank back in his chair. Kitten turned around, not before flashing him a smile. Robin could not help but wish that he had plucked up his courage a few seconds before and asked Kori.

Sure, Kitten was nice, smart, and pretty, but she just was not Kori. Kitten's smiles did not make him feel weak in the knees. He did not get flustered every time Kitten looked at him. He did not get that strange feeling of happiness when he saw Kitten. It was Kori who caused him to feel that way.

He chanced a glance at her, and saw her staring determinately forward, her large green eyes fixed on the chalkboard. She seemed to feel Robin's gaze fixed on her, for she turned her head to face him.

"I hope you and Kitten have a nice time at the dance, Robin," she said flatly before turning back to the chalkboard.

Robin was puzzled. No, he was bewildered. Why was Kori so unhappy with him all of a sudden? Had she not been finished talking to him when he had turned to face Kitten? Was she mad at him for talking to Kitten? Was she mad at him for saying yes?

Robin felt as if someone had just kicked him in the stomach. Kori was not the type to get upset over little things like this. As he watched his teacher write on the chalkboard, he found himself concluding the only possible solution to this problem.

The only reason Kori would be that upset with him was if she had been about to ask him to the dance, and he had said yes to someone else.

'_I'm the person she wanted to ask_,' Robin thought as he pulled his notebook and a pencil out of his backpack. '_It's the only thing that would make her upset like that. I had a chance with Kori, and I ruined it_.'


	7. Raven and Jinx do Homework

_Heehee, I made Jinx a good person. Even though she was in the villain lineup at the end of Homecoming part 2. She's still cool. And this chapter's really long :) Raven's POV!_

_I do not own the Teen Titans. If I did, Hot Spot wouldn't have, like, died at the end of Trust. My brother was flipping out at that point. Heehee, so was I. I love Hot Spot._

"Tell me, Jinx. Of all places you picked for our homework hour, why the football field?"

Raven raised her hands exasperatedly. Her friend, Jen, or, as she was fondly called by Raven, Jinx, and she did their homework together after school everyday, either in the library, under a tree, or, as they did today, on the bleachers in the football field.

Jinx twirled one of her pink braided pigtails before answering.

"'Cause the football team is practicing, of course," she said, tiny pink spots appearing on each of her cheeks. "And for other reasons…" She trailed away, leaving a suspicious silence in which Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I figured that," she said sarcastically, casting a glance out on the football field, where the team was doing drills. "You've had a crush on that guy Vic since seventh grade." The blush in Jinx's cheeks deepened. "But what are the 'other reasons'?"

"Oh, nothing," Jinx said, trying to sound offhand.

"You're really bad at lying," Raven said, placing her fingertips on either side of her head. "I can feel it in my psychic vibes." Jinx giggled as Raven lowered her hands.

"Fine," Jinx's smile became smug. "The team mascot's gonna join the cheerleaders' practice in a few minutes."

Raven felt her cheeks grow hot as she quickly turned her head to look at the cheerleaders, who were practicing their cheers a few feet away from the football team.

"Why would you care about that?" Raven asked, turning back to Jinx, feeling her cheeks grow warmer.

"I don't care," Jinx had a mischievous glint in her eye. "You do."

"Do not," Raven retorted quickly.

"Geez, Rae," Jinx rolled her eyes. "You're worse than me. It's obvious you like Gar, the green haired NA Tiger."

Raven chose to ignore this comment, and turned back to where the cheerleaders were now listening to someone tell a seemingly amusing tale. Raven saw a glint of gold in the center of their gaggle, and knew that Terra was telling them all a story, most likely how she had asked Gar to the dance. As Raven watched, Kori extracted herself from this bunch, saw Raven, and waved.

Raven returned the cheerleader's wave rather unenthusiastically before turning back to Jinx. She wore a rather smug expression on her face.

"Knew it," Jinx said simply.

"Whatever," Raven said quickly, before pulling a notebook out of her backpack. Jinx did the same, and they opened the matching blue five subject notebooks up to the last section. Both of the section dividers bore the word 'Spanish,' one in Raven's spiky scribble, the other in Jinx's loopy cursive.

Raven began to count out loud in Spanish. Jinx joined in, and the two friends counted all the way up to fifty. Then they both wrote down the days of the week and the months of the year, and swapped notebooks.

"You forgot the accent mark on sábado," Jinx drew an emphasized accent mark on top of the first 'a.'

"And you forgot the one on the 'e' in miécoles," Raven also marked an accent mark.

"Accent marks shall be our downfall," Jinx said in a deep voice. Raven chuckled. They switched back notebooks, and opened them up to their Latin section. Raven wrote down five Latin sentences in hers, leaving one of the words without a proper ending. Jinx did the same, then the girls switched notebooks again.

'_Jinx always gives me irregular verbs on purpose_,' Raven thought as she looked down and saw three verbs without endings. She skipped these and quickly added the correct endings to the nouns.

"Rae!" Jinx said suddenly. Raven looked up from her verbs quickly.

"Wha?" she asked. Jinx gave her a look that plainly said, 'Guess who's behind you.' Raven turned, and saw Gar walking lazily over to where the cheerleaders were practicing.

He had obviously decided to practice out of the costume, as he was not wearing the fur-covered uniform. He was instead wearing a plain white shirt and a pair of black sweatpants with the NA emblem on them.

"Hi, Gar," Raven said as he passed their spot on the bleachers. She was surprised she had so much as greeted him without making a fool of herself.

"Hey, Raven," Gar said, smiling widely.

"Nice hair," Jinx said quickly, fingering one of her own pink braids as she complimented him.

"You too," Gar winked. He then looked at Raven's hair for a few seconds before saying, "If you ever want to color your hair, I think purple would be best."

"Um, thanks," Raven giggled.

"See ya," Gar waved before continuing his progress toward the cheerleaders.

"Bye," Raven and Jinx said at the same time. As soon as Gar was out of earshot, Jinx said, "Now will you let me dye your hair?"

"No," Raven twisted a bunch of her black hair in her left hand. "I prefer natural hair colors."

"Unless the hair belongs to Garfield the Tiger," Jinx corrected her.

"Cut it out," Raven said impatiently. "I've still got three verbs to conjugate." She turned back to her verbs, giving her paper a small smile before facing what surely would be her downfall in Latin.

She and Jinx switched their notebooks again, and corrected each other's problems. Raven tried to concentrate on Jinx's neat writing, but she was distracted by a squeal from the field.

She looked down to see Terra half jumping half skipping over to Gar, making the skirt of her cheerleading uniform flop up and down unnecessarily. Raven tried to shut all this out, but she just did not find Latin verbs absorbing enough to block the happy yells.

Jinx punched her arm lightly.

"Ya wanna go to the library now?" she asked, giving Raven a look that plainly said, "I understand."

"Yeah," Raven closed her notebook and pushed it into her black backpack. Jinx did the same, and both girls stood up, slung their backpacks over their right shoulders, and began the uphill trek to the library.

"Your mom'll know where to pick you up, right?" Jinx asked breathlessly as they neared the halfway up point.

"I told her the library before school, because that's where I thought we would be the entire time," Raven said, grateful for her friend's concern.

"Great," Jinx swung her backpack around so it was hanging in front of her. She unzipped one of the pockets and began digging for something. "I've got something for you." Jinx found what she was looking for, and pulled out a slip of thick yellow paper. She handed it to Raven, swung her backpack back around, and smiled.

Raven looked down at the piece of paper she was holding. It had a border of stars, and in fancy letter said, "Night Under the Stars." Her name had been written on it in Jinx's neat handwriting. Raven realized what this slip of paper was, and shot her friend a nasty look.

"Why did you give me a ticket to homecoming?" she asked.

"Because I knew you wouldn't go if I didn't," Jinx answered promptly.

"I'm not going," Raven retorted as they reached the top of the hill and turned left toward the library entrance.

"Oh yes you are," Jinx argued playfully. "You're coming in my group and you are going to have fun. I'm not about to let my best friend stay home alone on Saturday night."

"I won't be alone. I'll have my parents to keep me company."

"Sitting on a couch watching old black and white movies with your parents is more fun than going to a dance with your best friend?" Jinx said in mock astonishment.

"Well, no," Raven admitted. "But –"

"No buts," Jinx held up a hand. "You're going to the dance and having fun. It's about time you came out of your shell and let your fun side take over."

Their conversation came to a quick halt as they entered the library and received piercing glares from the librarian at the desk.

"Two problems," Raven whispered as she and Jinx made their way over to their usual table. One, I don't have any other friends in that group. Two, you have a date."

"So?" Jinx asked as they sat down in the squishy armchairs set next to the table and plopped their backpacks down on the floor. "There's bound to be someone else you can talk to while I'm talking to Garth." She blushed slightly. "Roy's in our group, and he doesn't have a date. Neither do Leo and Kori."

"Kori's in your group?" Raven asked loudly, which obtained a stern look from the librarian.

"Well, yeah," Jinx said offhandedly. "Why shouldn't she be?"

"It's nothing like that, I was just surprised. Who all's in the group anyway?"

"Me and you, of course. And then there's Garth, Leo, Roy, Kori, Robin, Kitten, Vic," Jinx blushed as she mentioned Cy, "and Bea."

"Didn't Kori want to go in Terra's group?"

"Well, she did, but then she found out that practically the entire football team and cheerleading squad was in that group. That group is gonna be nothing but squeals and grunts, I assure you. She found out about our half-formed group the next day and asked if she could be in it."

"And Vic's not in that group because…?"

"He asked Bea, and she was already in our group, so they opted to go with us. And before you ask about anyone else, I'll just fill you in. Garth's going with me, and he, Leo, and Roy are, like, best friends. Robin's pretty good friends with Roy, since they're both runners, so that's how he got in our group. Then Kitten asked Robin, and you know how Robin is; he can never say no. Even to that spoiled brat." Jinx rolled here eyes as she finished this speech.

The two girls mentally voted not to do their homework, and spent the rest of the time in the library talking about the dance. Raven broke the conversation abruptly when she checked her watch and realized that it was time for her mom to pick her up.

"It's time to go!" she told Jinx, who immediately stopped talking mid-sentence and picked up her backpack. The two girls exited the library to find two cars parked in front of the building.

"Bye, Jinx!" Raven waved as she opened the passenger side door of her mom's blue car. Jinx waved as she got into the other car.

"Did you and Jen get much done?" Raven's mother asked as she buckled her seatbelt and hoisted her backpack onto the backseat.

"Not really," Raven said honestly. "We got sidetracked by the dance." She blushed as she said this, for her mom gave her the look all mothers give their teenage daughters when they first mention a school dance.

"Are you going?" her mother asked as she drove out of the parking lot.

"Jinx bought me a ticket," Raven shrugged. "So, yeah. I guess."

"I'm glad," her mother turned onto the highway. "It's about time you went to a school dance. Besides, I've wanted to go dress shopping with you for a while."

"Dress shopping?" Raven had completely forgotten about that part. Dress shopping was number four on her list of things she hated, number one being her father, two being cheerleaders (namely Terra at the moment) and three being make up.

Suddenly, a wonderful thought occurred to Raven. She knew how she was going to get out of dress shopping.

"Can't I just make my dress?" she asked hopefully.

Raven was known, by the half of the school that actually knew her, for her extraordinary Halloween costumes, all of which she had made herself.

"Do you know how?" her mother asked, taking her eyes off the road for a spilt second to look at her daughter suspiciously.

"Well, no, but how hard can it be?"

"I'll make a deal with you, Raven. We will go to the store to look at dresses. If you don't see one that you like, you can make your dress." Her mother halted at a red light, and looked over to see her daughter's disappointed face.

"Rae, I know you hate dress shopping, but we really need an excuse to stay out of the house for an hour or so."

Raven looked into her mother's concerned face, comprehension dawning.

"He's in a mood again?" she asked.

Her mother nodded.

"Well, in that case, I know exactly what we should do," Raven smiled slyly. "We will go and look at dresses for a total of fifteen minutes. Then we'll go see that movie you've wanted to see for a week now. Then, to top it all off, we'll browse the soundtracks at Media Play. That should keep us occupied for about three hours."

"And he'll really believe us when we say we were looking at dresses for three hours?"

"He will when I show him this," Raven turned in her seat, unzipped her backpack, and pulled out a sketchpad. She opened it to show her mother her intricate drawings of full-length homecoming dresses.

"Why did you draw these, if you don't mind me asking?" her mother asked as the light turned green.

"Jinx asked me to draw a dress that would look good on her. I just got a little involved and drew some dresses for other people."

"Works for me," Raven's mother chuckled, and turned her car in the direction of the mall instead of their house.


	8. Dance Preparation, Part 1

_A/N: Hey, all. I'm skipping ahead to the night of the dance. Why? Cuz I can't think of a single thing to write that's before it. __ Also, I think I write best as Raven, so she's gonna become the main character. By the way, Jinx lives across the street from Raven. Enjoy._

_And to any CyxJinx shippers reading this: I am not one of you. Sorry. Please do not send me hate mail (although you will get a nice polite email back from me saying that I am sorry my mind doesn't work the same way yours does -wink-), and please do not flame my story. If you do, all those flames will go to burn Terra and Malchior(although you probably don't care about that)._

_My updating has finally caught up with me; this is the last chapter I have saved on the computer. The rest is all in my head and sometimes I wish I could just zap all my ideas into story format on Word. That sure would make life easier. So I most likely will not be updating soon. Sorry._

_And you know it already: I don't own the Teen Titans. But I do own a closet door full of pictures of them!

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_

"I still don't understand why you had to make your own dress," Jinx said over the phone. "Half of the fun is finding the right one."

Raven sighed into the receiver. She was lying on her bed talking to Jinx while staring in awe at the dress she had completed only the day before. She had hung it in the front of her closet and left the door wide open.

"Trust me, this is the right one," Raven said. Her dress was made of a silky purple fabric that had a faint sheen to it. It was floor length with long sleeves and a modest neckline. Her mother had bought her a pair of high heeled shoes, but Raven was seriously considering wearing her bright blue converse instead; her dress was so long that nobody would see her feet anyway.

"Well, please tell me you're at least doing something special to your hair," Jinx pleaded with her, seeming to want to find something that Raven was doing like everyone else.

"Um, no," Raven twirled a lock of her now short black hair. "But I got it cut yesterday."

"What?" Jinx yelled. Raven held the phone at an arms length for a full minute, then deemed it safe to put it next to her ear again.

"Are you done?" Raven asked politely.

"Yes," came the rather breathless answer. "As soon as my mom finishes curling my hair, I'm coming over to your house to do yours. And that would be now." Raven heard a click as Jinx put the phone down.

Raven sighed as she hung up her own phone. She walked over to her mirror and looked at her reflection. Her hair looked rather stringy this length, and her pale complexion did nothing to help this.

'_What can Jinx possibly do to make my hair look nice?_' Raven found herself wondering as she pulled on a lock of hair.

She heard the doorbell, and rushed down the stairs to answer the front door before her father could.

"I got it!" she yelled as she was halfway down the stairs, seeing her father approaching the door. She vaulted over the banister, landing catlike three paces in front of her father. She then sprang to open the door.

Jinx stood in the doorway clutching a duffel bag. She wore an old T-shirt and athletic shorts, which gave her a casual look, but her hair belonged at the other end of the fashion spectrum. Her pink hair had been curled and pinned up at the back of her head with little white roses placed almost randomly in her curls.

"Up to my room," Raven grabbed her friend by the arm and pulling her up the stairs as her father gave both of them dirty looks.

"Your hair looks beautiful," Raven said as she shoved her friend inside her room and closed the door. "How long did it take your mom to do that?"

"A while," Jinx said absently, staring open-mouthed at Raven's dress. "Are you sure you made that?" She turned to face Raven, looking in awe at her friend.

"Yeah," Raven rolled her eyes. "If you need the proof, I have all the sketches and measurements over there." She pointed to her desk, on which a sewing machine rested.

"Well, I certainly have my work cut out for me," Jinx turned back to the dress, "if I'm supposed to make your hair gorgeous enough to fit with that dress." She pushed Raven into a chair, and turned it away from the mirror.

"Jinx, I don't want you doing anything crazy that I'll kill you for," Raven said warningly.

"Stop worrying so much, Rae. I just want it to be a surprise."

Jinx unzipped her duffel bag, and began brushing Raven's hair. She then curled it and brushed it again.

"How long will this take?" Raven asked, looking at her watch. Almost fifteen minutes had gone by since Jinx had arrived.

"Not much longer," Jinx assured her. "Close your eyes; I don't want any hairspray to get in them." Raven obediently shut her eyes, feeling a sudden pang of foreboding.

"Can I open them now?" Raven asked as the spraying sound stopped.

"Not yet," Jinx said. Raven felt individual locks of her hair being pulled on slightly, and mentally counted all the pins she felt being placed in her hair.

"Done," Jinx said. Raven opened her eyes and checked her watch. It had taken Jinx a full forty five minutes to fix her hair.

"I'd better like it," Raven said as she turned to face the mirror.

She screamed.

"What did you do to my head?" Jinx had dyed her hair purple.

"It's not all like that," Jinx assured her as Raven raised a fist. "Go closer and see."

Deciding to give Jinx a chance to explain herself before pummeling her, Raven stepped closer to the mirror. Now that she could see clearer, she noticed that only part of her hair had been colored purple. The purple part had been pinned back into a half-ponytail, and the black part had been curled and left down.

"Why did you do that?" Raven asked, for although she had admitted to herself that she almost liked it, she was not about to tell Jinx that.

"It looks good, Rae," Jinx put her hand on her hips. "You should've colored your hair a long time ago. Besides, it matches your eyes and your dress."

"What made you think you could get away with this?" Raven raised a fist and advanced on her friend.

"Look, I'm sorry," Jinx said, looking frightened. "I thought you might like it. Well, don't worry, I can fix it."

"Fix it?" Raven backed her friend into a corner, her mind laughing insanely at the frightened look on Jinx's face. "You think you can fix it? Well, you can't. Want to know why?" Jinx gave a frightened nod. "Because I like it!" Raven flung her arms around her friend.

When she released Jinx, her friend gave a shaky laugh.

"I thought I was gonna get it," Jinx said in a faltering voice. "You really scared me, Rae." Raven smiled.

"All in good fun," she laughed.

"Now, let's see you in this dress," Jinx walked over to Raven's closet and took the dress of its hanger. She handed it to Raven, and began leading her out the door of her room and into the bathroom.

"Jinx, the dance isn't for another hour," Raven protested as she was shoved into her family's messy bathroom.

"So?" Jinx asked. "We have pictures to take and a dinner to eat. I'm changing into my dress as soon as I go back home, and I want to see you in yours." She closed the blue bathroom door.

Raven carefully placed her dress on the toilet and extracted herself from her T-shirt and jeans. She then carefully stepped into her dress and zipped it up at the back.

She looked at herself in the small mirror placed above the sink.

'_Jinx was right_,' she thought. '_My hair does match my dress_.' She took a step closer. '_And my eyes._' She smiled at her reflection before turning away and opening the door.

She heard Jinx's squeal, and felt the pressure of a hug as her eyes were covered by Jinx's curly pink hair. She hugged her excited friend back, and joined in as Jinx began jumping up and down.

"You look gorgeous, Raven!" Jinx said as she released her friend.

"Thanks," Raven said, suddenly feeling self conscious. "Um, why don't I get my shoes and I can come over to see your dress?"

"Yeah!" Jinx grabbed Raven's arm and pulled her back to her room. "Get your mom to come so we can get an early start on the pictures."

"I hate pictures," Raven said as she closed the door to her room.

"Rae, it's your first formal dance," Jinx sighed. "Like it or not, there's going to be a lot of picture taking." Raven rolled her eyes, and proceeded to her closet, where two unopened shoeboxes lay. Inside one was a pair of high heeled shoes; the other housed a pair of converse. Raven picked up both of them.

"Think I should wear the converse or the high heels?" she asked.

"Seriously?" Jinx asked, raising her eyebrows and smiling.

"Yeah," Raven nodded, a sly grin forming on her face.

"Wear the converse," Jinx had an equally sly grin growing on her face. "I'll wear mine too. This'll be awesome. You'll be wearing bright blue converse, and I'll be wearing bright pink ones."

Raven put the high heeled shoes back in her closet, and took out her converse. After pulling on a pair of socks, she tugged her feet into her new pair of high tops. She laced them up with double knots at the top, then stood up to face her friend.

"Ready," she smiled.

"Awesome," Jinx smiled, her hand closing on Raven's wrist. "C'mon, let's go get your mom so we can go over to my house." The two girls ran downstairs, their tennis-shoed feet coming down hard on the wood steps.

"Mom?" Raven called out as she made a 180 degree turn to walk into the kitchen, Jinx close behind. "You in the kitchen?" The two girls walked into the brightly-lit kitchen as Raven's mother, Angela, looked up from the pan she was holding in oven-mitted hands.

"Raven, you look gorgeous," she said, putting the pan down on the stove and walking over to hug her daughter. "And just look at your hair, the both of you." She released Raven and pulled Jinx into a short hug. Jinx was like a second daughter to Angela, seeing as how the two girls were neighbors and one was almost always at the other's house.

"Mom, we're gonna head over to Jinx's house now, okay?" Raven told her mother.

"Hold on," Angela took her oven mitts off and placed them on the kitchen counter. "Let me get the camera and put this lasagna in a bag, and I'll come with you."

"You made lasagna, Mom?" Jinx asked. "Awesome." Jinx was so much like Angela's daughter that sometimes she even called her 'Mom.'

The two girls helped Angela place the steaming pan of lasagna into a bag, then helped her locate her camera, which was 'hiding' inside Raven's sewing kit. Angela gave Raven 'the look,' then grabbed the bag's handles and headed for the door.

Raven and Jinx followed, and the party of three had almost reached the door when Raven's father stepped in front of it, blocking their way.

Ravens' father, Talmon, was a large person, both in height and width, though any size on him was muscle, not fat. His hair was long, graying, and pulled back into a ponytail, and his job as a construction worker gave him a permanent farmer's sunburn. (_Talmon is Hebrew, and it means to injure or to oppress._)

"Talmon, please move," Angela said in a firm voice. "The girls and I are just going over to Jennifer's house for dinner."

"Move, Angela," Talmon said in his deep, almost frightening voice. Angela stood her ground and looked him in the eye defiantly. He raised a hand and slapped her across the face.

"Mom!" Raven cried as her mother cried out and sank to the ground. She made to help her mother up, but Talmon stepped in her way.

"Where are you going?" he asked, seeming to have forgotten that Jinx was in the house.

"I'm going over to Jin– I mean, Jen's house for dinner. Then I'm going to my school dance," She looked her father straight in the eye, her purple orbs locked on his reddish-brown ones.

"You are to be home at nine o'clock," her father told her, his eyes boring a hole in her face.

"The dance ends at eleven," Raven said coldly. "Then Jen is having party. I will be sleeping over her house, and will be back at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

"No," her father said, his hands clenching into fists. "You will be back home at the end of the dance. No parties."

Raven stood her ground, not dropping her gaze once. She knew that this was just like haggling with a street vendor. She had to stand her ground. Or else.

"No," Raven said, her temper rising. "I am going to Jen's party."

"You will be home at eleven o'clock tonight!" her father roared. Raven felt herself shrink, but she knew she could not back down.

"I will sleep over Jen's house and will be back home at nine in the morning!" she exclaimed. "I can and I will, and there's nothing you can do to stop me!" She gave Talmon the dirtiest look she could, then grabbed Jinx by the arm, helped her mother up, and walked out the door, slamming it in her father's scowling face.

"You're gonna get in trouble for that one," Angela said as the faint outline of a handprint began to form on her cheek.

"I really don't care anymore," Raven said determinedly. "He's stopped me from having fun for the last time." She stopped their progress to Jinx's house as they reached the sidewalk and inspected her mother's face. "How're you gonna explain that one away?" Raven asked, fingering the outline delicately, seeing if it would sting. Her mother recoiled slightly.

"A burn," Angela said shortly, although Raven knew that this 'burn' would attract attention. Angela turned to Jinx. "I'm sorry you had to see that, sweetheart." She put an arm around Jinx's shoulders.

"I had no idea," Jinx said in a shaky voice. "All those times you couldn't come to those mother-daughter baking parties or the craft parties, and I gave you a hard time because I thought you were doing other things. I'm so sorry."

"Don't think on it, bud," Raven said. "We've learned to deal. Besides, tonight we have fun." She and Angela smiled weakly at Jinx, who managed a small one in return. "Just don't tell anyone." Jinx nodded, almost as if she had expected this.

"Mom, I'm back!" Jinx yelled as the three of them entered her house.

"I'm in the kitchen!" Jinx's mother's voice boomed through the hallway connecting the entranceway to the kitchen. Angela wordlessly began to walk into the kitchen with her bag of lasagna, while Jinx and Raven ran up to Jinx's room.

As the two entered Jinx's pink room, Raven plopped down in an armchair by the window while Jinx opened her closet and extracted her dress. Like Raven's, it was floor length, but it had thin straps to hold it up, and it was white.

Jinx crossed into the bathroom that was connected to her room and changed quickly, coming back out wearing the dress and a stunning silver pendant.

Raven let her mouth hang open for s few second before exclaiming, "You look beautiful!" Jinx smiled modestly as Raven stood up from the chair to inspect Jinx's pendant. A silver flower lay gracefully above the dress's neckline with a single diamond in the center.

"Beautiful necklace," Raven's smile widened so that the tension in her cheeks was almost overwhelming.

"That reminds me," Jinx turned to walk over to her jewelry box. "I have something for you." She opened the dark brown box, and took two things out of it. She closed it gently, then turned to Raven, her right hand clenched in a fist. She opened it and held it out to her.

"Pick one," She said.

In her hand were two rings. They both were silver and looked two small vines twisted together. One had a blue stone set in it, the other a purple stone.

"Are they real?" Raven asked, taken aback by the beauty of the rings.

"Real silver," Jinx shrugged. "Not sure about the gems though. Pick one. I want us to wear them tonight."

"But –" Raven began.

"I don't want to hear you saying that it must have cost too much and that you couldn't possibly accept it," Jinx said, a playful frown on her face. "I spend my money on things that are special, and it would make my year if you would take one as an early Christmas gift or something. Anything to get you to wear one."

"Can't really argue with that, can I?" Raven asked, laughing. She picked up the ring with the purple stone carefully and slipped it on the middle finger of her left hand. Jinx slid the other ring on the same finger.

"Thanks Jinx," Raven said, admiring her ring. "I don't think I'll ever take this thing off."

"Good," Jinx smiled. "Now, come on downstairs. I want to get pictures of the two of us before everyone else gets here!" She grabbed Raven's wrist and pulled her downstairs and into the kitchen, where their moms were sitting and talking.

Jinx's mom jumped up when the two girls entered the room, and pulled both of them into a giant hug.

"You two are the prettiest girls I've ever seen!" she said while she squeezed them.

"Mom, let's go get started on the pictures," Jinx said as her mom released her.

"Right away," Her mother grabbed her camera off the table, and led the way into the family room. Jinx followed right behind her mother, while Raven and Angela took up the rear. Raven turned around to look at her mom before entering the family room.

"He got you good," she said sadly, looking at the giant red mark now on Angela's left cheek. The two entered the family room wordlessly, to see a giant white curtain covering the entirety of what had been the left wall.

"Jen, you go first, then Angela can get some pictures of Raven," Jinx's mom turned her camera on and began adjusting the zoom. Jinx stepped into the center of the white curtain, and smiled.

The camera flashed away as Jinx's mother began snapping pictures madly. Jinx was hardly in front of the curtain for a minute when her mom was waving at her to step away and let Raven stand in her place.

Raven stood in front of the curtain, smiling in an almost exasperated way, dreading the camera flash that would soon blind her. She watched her mother set up her camera angle, then resisted the childish urge to stick out her tongue as the flash blinded her. To her relief, her mother finished quickly, but then Jinx skipped in front of the curtain, hugged Raven, and prompted their moms to take group pictures.

Raven hugged Jinx back and smiled, this time more genuinely, as their mothers clicked away at their 'take picture' buttons. This bout of picture-taking was cut short soon after the first stream of flashes by the doorbell.

"We'll get it," Raven and Jinx said together as the flashes stopped, and both girls rubbed their eyes as they walked the familiar route to Jinx's front door.


	9. Terra, Stop Dissing my Friends!

_This is Kori's POV, and it takes place before Jinx and Raven go to answer the door. Just a little quickie I wrote to introduce Kori's older sister and what Terra thinks of her group. This should keep you guys occupied while I write the rest of the dance. :)_

_And, as you know, I do not own Teen Titans. Duh. (But please review my story anyway!)

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"So, who's all in your group again?" Terra's voice was heard via the phone sitting on Kori's dresser. Kori was busy getting ready for homecoming, and had called Terra so she had someone other than her snobby older sister to talk to. She had put Terra on speakerphone so she could hear her while getting ready.

"Me, of course, and then there's Jen, Bea, Vic, Garth, Roy, Leo, Raven, Kitten, and Robin." Kori said, leaving Robin's name last on purpose. She felt her stomach clench as she mentioned him.

"Whoa, did you get stuck in loser central," Terra said coldly.

"What?" Kori whipped around from her mirror, in which she had been looking to put on one of her earrings, to face the phone as if she could face Terra by doing so. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hello, Kori, wake up please," Terra said sarcastically. "You have Leo, Raven, Garth, Jen, and Kitten in your group. Losers if ever I met some. Robin, Bea, and Vic are okay. Roy's all right, at least, when he's not hanging out with Leo and Garth."

"Hey, they're all really nice," Kori said defensively, turning back to the mirror. "I don't think there's anything wrong with them."

"Do you even know who you're talking about?" Kori sighed, knowing she was in for another one of Terra's gossip lectures. "Leo and Garth are two of the biggest geeks in the entire school, even if they don't look it. Jen is just strange, and Kitten's annoying. And Raven's bordering on the edge of being a Goth!"

"They are not," Kori said, feeling one of her familiar swoops of anger. "They're my friends."

"Sure," Terra responded quietly. "Well, some of them are Gar's friends too, so I guess I'd better be nice to them. We're gonna meet up with your group at the dance, by the way."

"Okay," Kori shrugged as she said this.

"Oh, I've got to go, Kori. I only have another fifteen minutes before I have to leave!" Kori heard the click of the phone, and walked over to her own phone so she could turn it off.

After turning off her phone, she resumed the battle her earring was having with her ear, managing to get it in sooner than she had expected. Then she slipped into her dark pink dress (_A/N: It's just like the one in DWD._) and headed out of her room.

She coughed as she stepped into the upstairs hallway. The air was thick with the smell of perfume, make-up, and hairspray.

"Could this hallway be any more suffocating?" she waved her hands in the air, desperate for some fresh air. Kori herself had used make-up and hairspray, but not enough to flood the hallway with its stench.

"Sorry, kid, but it takes a lot of work to look this good," Kori's older sister, Brianna, stepped out of the bathroom at Kori's words. "And sometimes that work can be fragrant." Brianna was preparing for her senior prom. Her long black hair had been swept back into an elegant bun, her wrists jangled with bracelets, and her face was so covered with make-up that Kori would not have been able to tell what her skin tone was if she had not known already.

"Fragrant?" Kori asked, choking. "More like suffocating!"

Brianna shrugged, and stepped back into the bathroom, most likely to add another odor to the air. Kori hurried down the stairs, and, deciding she could use some fresh air, out the front door.

The grass was slightly damp, bus as Kori was wearing close-toed shoes, this did not matter. She walked around her house to her backyard, where a large garden was.

This garden had almost every flower known to man in it. Bees and butterflies came by the thousands into this garden, and a few carefully pruned rose bushes lined the white fence around the garden.

Kori walked over to one of the rosebushes, and plucked a small, light pink rosebud off the bush. She tucked it into the elaborate knot that tied her hair back, then picked another fully opened pink rose, and simply held it in one of her gloved hands, unsure why she had picked it.

"Kori! Get in here! Mom wants a picture of the two of us before we go to meet our groups!" Brianna's head was sticking out of an upstairs window, her tone of voice not matching the way she looked at all.

Kori began her trek back up to her front door, clutching the pink rose in her right hand.

Her mother had reached the door before she did, so it was already open when she reached it. She stepped into the entranceway to see her mother and father both hugging her sister. Brianna shot Kori a nasty look between her parents' arms.

When she was released, Brianna put on a false smile and skipped over to Kori, hugging her. Kori was overwhelmed by the odor of perfume and hairspray, but resisted emitting the hacking cough that was threatening to come out.

"You look so cute, Kori," her sister simpered. "Whoever you're going with will be in shock. I'll want pictures of the two of you of course." Kori went pink. A month before the dance, she had unwittingly took her sister up on the bet that she _would_ be able to get a date to homecoming. Little did she know that she would not have the courage to ask the one boy she would have said yes to…

"Into the living room, both of you!" the girls' mother exclaimed, hugging Kori as Brianna walked into the living room. Kori hugged her mother back before following her sister and father into the living room.

Brianna had perched herself gracefully on the sofa, and her father was setting up a camera. Brianna held her arms out, looking directly at Kori. She took the hint and sat down next to her sister.

The two of them sat on the couch together, smiling politely as their father snapped away with his camera. Kori still held the pink rose, although she had forgotten all about it.

"Ooh, Daddy, let me see the pictures!" Brianna squealed as her father straightened up from the tripod. Their father removed the digital camera from the tripod and pressed a few button. The camera emitted a few loud beeps, then Brianna stared oohing and awing.

Kori headed out of the room instead of looking at the pictures with her sister. She waved her mom over with the hand that was not holding the rose, and started heading out to one of the cars.

Her mother followed her out to the car, and then Kori began the journey to Jinx's house.


	10. Dance Preparation, Part 2

_I finally finished chapter 10! Sorry I haven't updated for a while. School's been getting really annoying, but it's Wednesday, so the weekends soon! Then I can stay up till all hours of the night typing!

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"Hey, Kori!" Jinx said as she opened the door. Kori stepped inside, smiling brightly with her mother in tow.

"Wow, Kori," Raven exclaimed, her eyes bugging out of her head. "You look beautiful!" Kori was dressed in a dark pink dress, white gloves, and was carrying a pink rose.

"Thanks," Kori said. "You two look beautiful too!" She pulled both Raven and Jinx into a hug. Raven was taken aback by this gesture, but hugged her back all the same.

Jinx and Raven led Kori and her mother into the family room, where Jinx's mother and Angela were both talking. They jumped up from the sofa when the group of four entered, complimenting Kori and introducing themselves to Kori's mother. Raven noticed that Angela kept putting a hand up to her left cheek in an almost self-conscious way.

Kori was soon ushered in front of the white curtain, where she stood smiling politely as her mother began snapping away.

"Now a picture of all three of you," Jinx's mother put one hand on each Raven's and Jinx's backs and pushed them lightly in the direction of the curtain. Kori smiled at the two of them, and beckoned. Jinx and Raven shrugged at each other and walked back in front of the curtain. The three girls gathered together in a six-armed hug and smiled as their mothers began snapping away with their cameras.

Luckily, this bout of picture taking ended quickly, so the girls were free to talk amongst themselves while the mothers entered the kitchen to set out dinner.

"Jen, Garth is gonna freak when he sees you," Kori squeezed Jinx's arm. "You look so pretty!"

"Thanks, Kori," Jinx smiled. "And call me Jinx, okay?"

"Got it," Kori gave Jinx a thumbs-up, just as the doorbell rang for the second time.

The three girls ran to answer it, Raven's tennis-shoed feet making stomping noises, Kori's high-heels clacking, and Jinx hardly making a sound, as she hadn't put on any shoes yet.

Jinx pulled the door open as she had before, and into the entranceway stepped Robin and his father.

Robin wore a simple white shirt, black pants, a black jacket, black bow tie, and polished black shoes. Raven cast a glance at Kori, and saw her staring glassy-eyed at him. Raven elbowed her lightly, which seemed to bring her back to her senses.

"Hey, Robin," Jinx and Raven said at the same time.

"Hi," Kori greeted him a second after the other two.

"Hi, Jen, Kori, Raven," he said, nodding his head formally as he looked at each of them. "I would like to introduce you to my father, Mr. Grayson."

"Pleasure," Mr. Grayson, a tall man with black hair and gray eyes inclined his head to the girls as well.

"Here, I'll show you into the family room," Jinx adjusted her normal, 'follow me' sentence to appear more formal. She led the way, with Raven and Kori bringing up the rear.

The three mothers had returned to the family room, and Mr. Grayson walked over to their group to introduce himself before the picture-taking resumed.

"Um, Robin, can I ask you to do me a huge favor?" Kori asked apprehensively. Raven and Jinx backed away a few steps almost automatically.

"Sure," Robin said without hesitating. "What do you need?"

"Um, I kinda made this bet with me sister that I would be able to get a date to homecoming," Kori said, her face turning slightly pink, "and I, uh, kinda didn't. So do you think you could take one picture with me so I could pretend that I had a date? It's just that I can't stand her teasing me."

"Sure," Robin smiled in an almost excited way. He cast a glace over to his dad, who was fumbling with his camera. "Dad looks like he's ready to start embarrassing me anyway." He smiled at Kori, who had giggled at his joke.

"Robin, I know you despise pictures, but your mother will have my head if I do not take at least one," he said, turning his camera on and beckoning for Robin to stand in front of the curtain.

"Very well," Robin said, suddenly talking formal again. "Kori was wondering if I could be in a picture with her, because her sister wants a picture of her and a boy." Robin stepped in front of the curtain, and beckoned with his head to Kori. Kori's mother, noticing that her daughter was walking back into the picture zone, hopped up and turned her camera on.

Jinx and Raven watched, smiling slightly, as Kori's mother scuttled in front of the curtain for a brief second to put Robin's arm around her daughter's waist. Both Kori and Robin blushed when she did this, but kept smiling.

"Cuteness," Jinx whispered to Raven. Raven nodded her head.

"Yeah," she whispered back. "Let's just hope Kitten doesn't find out."

"Ooh, I almost forgot about her," Jinx said, wrinkling her nose. "Even if I forget about her, it still means she's coming. Dang."

Kori and Robin left from in front of the curtain after about a minute, and then joined Jinx and Raven one more.

"Thank you so much, Robin," Kori was still pink in the face.

"No problem," Robin said, his face pink as well. "So, any idea when everyone else will be here?"

The doorbell rang.

"How about now?" Jinx smiled as she ran to answer the door. Raven, Kori, and Robin stayed in the family room this time, waiting for Jinx's return with the person who had just arrived.

Jinx returned after a few minutes with six people in tow: Roy, Leo, and Garth, along with one parent for each guy. Jinx and Garth were both blushing slightly. Raven grinned as she noticed this.

Jinx's mother exploded with glee at this point. She had obviously heard enough about Garth to guess that he was the one wearing the blue shirt under his jacket and with his long black hair tied back in a ponytail. She practically skipped over to him, trapping him in a giant hug.

"It's so good to finally meet you," she exclaimed, releasing him and making Jinx turn red.

"Mom, cut it out," she said under her breath, but Raven, Kori, and Robin heard her, which made them snigger.

"I'm glad I don't have a date," Raven whispered. "My mom would probably do something like that if I did." Kori giggled softly, and Robin smiled.

In the minutes that followed, pictures were taken of the new arrivals, and Jinx was ushered into a picture with Garth. The two of them went rather pink as a result of being so close to one another, but smiled politely at the camera.

Leo, Roy, Robin, Raven, Kori, Garth, and Jinx all formed a little circle and began talking as the mothers and fathers went into the kitchen to help Jinx's mom get dinner ready.

"So we're only waiting for three more people?" Larry asked.

"Bea, Vic, and Kat," Jinx said, giving Kat's name an annoyed emphasis. Robin looked a little embarrassed as she did this, so she quickly changed the subject by saying, "Are all of you gonna come to the party afterward?"

The word 'yes' circled around, with a slight pause as it reached Raven.

"I guess," she said hesitantly. "I mean, unless you know who decides to be a big idiot and make a huge fuss." She gave Jinx 'the look,' and Jinx gave her a small nod of comprehension.

Their circle was broken as the doorbell rang once more. Jinx ran to see who it was, while the rest of them stayed put. The parents all came back into the family room, obviously awaiting some more picture taking.

Jinx returned with Vic and Bea. Kori immediately ran over to Bea, complimenting her on her dress. It was black with small gold sequins sewed all over it. Bea was smiling cheerily, her left arm linked in Vic's right. Their mothers followed them into the family room, both looking slightly emotional.

Jinx's mother ushered the two in front of the curtain, and their mothers began taking pictures as if their lives depended on it. The two women were apparently very good at speed-picture-taking, for Vic and Bea were only standing up in front of the curtain for thirty seconds when their mothers announced themselves finished.

"Well, since all the young men are here, why don't we get a group shot?" Jinx's mother asked, shepherding Robin, Garth, Leo, and Roy back in front of the curtain. Bea stepped out of the way and over to Kori, Jinx, and Raven.

"You all look so pretty!" she exclaimed, squeezing Kori's arm.

"You too," the three other girls said. They all giggled, and turned to watch the guys get their pictures taken.

Vic, as the tallest, stood in the center of the group. To his right were Robin and Garth, and to his left were Roy and Leo. The group of five all smiled politely, standing straight up with their hands at their sides.

"Take a funny one!" Jinx called as the parents all stopped taking pictures. The guys' faces split into evil grins. They huddled together for about five seconds before facing the camera once more.

Vic tilted his head up slightly, looking up to the ceiling. He had a look of stupidity on his face, and his mouth was open. Robin and Leo stood on either side of him, gazing off to the left and right with similar expressions. Roy and Garth leant on either Robin's or Leo's shoulder and feigned sleeping.

The four girls erupted into a fit of laughter. The parents all suppressed small laughs as well and quickly took the picture.

"Let's call this one, 'Boredom in Homecoming 101,'" Jinx laughed. The other three's smiles widened at this comment.

"Kitten's really late," Raven pushed one of her longs sleeves up to check her watch. Jinx moved closer to look at Raven's watch.

"Yeah," she said, frowning. "Oh well. Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll finish the picture taking without her." Raven and Jinx exchanged evil grins. Jinx's comment also left Kori with a small grin on her face.

Jinx's mother seemed to be thinking along the same line as the girls, for she also checked her watch once the picture taking was over.

"Why don't we get a few shots of the whole group now, since Kat isn't here yet," she suggested. All the boys except Robin nodded enthusiastically at this proposal, and the girls all walked over to the guys, Jinx pulling Raven.

Jinx and Bea knew exactly where to stand at once, as Garth and Vic each held out an arm. Raven and Kori stood to the side, before Mr. Grayson spoke up.

"Be a gentleman, Robin, and offer one of these young ladies your arm," he winked pointedly at his son.

Robin went slightly pink, but looked at Kori and held out his arm. Kori turned an equal shade of pink before walking over and taking his arm. Roy took Mr. Grayson's advice as well, and held out his arm to Raven. She walked into the picture zone and took his arm, half wishing she could skip this picture.

The parents all started waving their arms, trying to communicate to the teenagers while positioning their cameras. The group had to squish together to all fit in the picture, but they all managed.

After two minutes, the parents all lowered their cameras and declared themselves done. No sooner had they done this then the doorbell rang, and Jinx's mother ran to answer it.

The group immediately broke apart, knowing what was about to walk into the room. No one, except maybe Robin, though he suddenly looked like he had swallowed a bucket of ice, wanted to be in any pictures with _her_.

"I was half hoping she forgot," Jinx whispered to Raven and Garth, who still held her arm.

"She wouldn't have," Raven rolled her eyes. "Poor Kori." The three of them looked over at Kori, who was standing close to Robin, and had an expression to match his.

"Well, no one ever dances the whole time with their date," Jinx said, trying to make light of the situation. "Kori'll get a dance with Robin. Just like _you'll_ get to dance with –"

"That's good to know," Raven interrupted quickly. She had a faint idea of whose name had been about to come out of Jinx's mouth, and she was certain that she did not want to hear the rest of the sentence. Jinx now wore an almost smug smile on her face, while Garth looked rather confused.

"HI ROBIN!" a voice exclaimed. Everyone's heads turned to face Kitten. (_A/N: Her dress is just like the one in DWD, so I'm not gonna describe it._) She was smiling in an extremely girlish way, and she giggled as everyone looked at her. Her father was walking behind her.

She pranced over to Robin and seized his arm tightly. He tried to smile, but failed dismally; the look he wore now made it seem as though he was constipated.

"All right, everyone, into the dining room for dinner!" Jinx's mother called out. Everyone slowly trailed into the dining room. Raven waited until everyone had already gone in, and then grabbed her mother's arm.

"Don't let him blame you for me having fun," she said, giving her mother a stern look. "If he hurts you, call me, and I'll come home."

"Oh, sweetie," Angela pulled her daughter into a large bear hug. "Tonight's your special night. Don't you worry about a thing."


	11. The Dance, Part 1 SWITCH

_OK, so now everyone's at the dance. YAY! I'm not going to be _too_ evil at the dance. Normally I would have everything turn out awfully, but there's enough awful stuff in store for the chapters after the dance, so it's going to be a good night for everyone. Well, for everyone except a mascot. (You can throw things at me for being evil now.)_

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans. Duh.

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"Have a nice time, sweetheart!" Angela called out the driver's window. Raven waved to her mom, then turned around to face the group she was now part of.

The group of ten was standing on the sidewalk that led up to the school's back door, which was where everyone had to hand in their tickets and enter the gym. The music was blaring out through the open doors, and Raven noticed that the lights in the gym that served as the dancing area had been turned out.

"Come, on, Rae!" Jinx called, grabbing her friend's arm and pulling her closer to the building.

"I'm fine right here, actually," Raven smiled sheepishly. "I have a really bad feeling about all this."

"Oh, cut it out for one night," Jinx waved to the rest of the group to get them to wait. "Someone help me drag her into the gym." Raven felt a second hand close on her other arm, and began to dig her heels into the sidewalk.

"Come on, Raven," she heard a familiar voice say.

"Garfield?" she asked, abandoning her heel-digging for a second to peer at the person who had her other arm.

"The one and only," hhe said, smiling cockily. As Raven looked closer through the semi-darkness, she noticed that Terra was clinging to Gar's other arm, and impatient expression on her face. The expression soon turned to glee as Terra recognized Kori.

"Oh my gosh, look at you!" they both squealed, hugging each other and jumping up and down. Raven was distracted from her reluctance to go inside, and soon found herself joining the queue that was heading into the building.

"Thank you, Garfield," Jinx whispered so only Raven could hear her. Raven punched her lightly on the arm.

"Cut it out," she said, going slightly pink. They handed their tickets to the man sitting at the desk, and entered the school.

Alfie, who had linked arms with Jinx, pointed out where the rest of their group had gone. Jinx grabbed Raven's arm so as to not lose her, and followed the others into the upstairs gym.

Raven was relieved to see that the upstairs gym was a lot less crowded than the hallway had been. Kori, Bea, and Kat were all taking off their shoes and giving their purses to the parents who were standing behind the large table that was already full of sparkly, flowery, and lacy piles. Each girl had a number written on their hands in permanent marker, and after they were done getting rid of their purses and shoes, their group, now with Terra and Gar, joined together again.

"We don't wanna lose anyone down there," Kori said. "It's so dark and crowded. We'll never find each other again."

"Yeah, so why don't we all link arms or something until we figure out where we're comfortable standing?" Bea suggested. She had already linked arms with Vic as she said this, so she held out her other arm to Kori, who was next to her.

The rest of the group quickly linked arms with the people they were next to. To Raven's glee, it was Gar who took one of her arms. Jinx grabbed the other, and gave her a look that plainly said, "Don't even think about leaving."

Terra led the group down the stairs to the darkened gym. Their group had a slight problem on the steps when Kitten tripped over her dress, but apart from that, everyone reached the gym with no problems.

The group settled on a spot near the wall, which was fine with Raven. She was a professional wall-stander at dances, and was not about to lose her title. Their spot was about in the middle of the gym, where the music was not as loud.

Vic and Bea, Jinx and Garth, and Terra and Garfield began dancing with each other almost immediately. Robin was soon pulled away from the wall by Kitten, which left Leo, Roy, Kori, and Raven as the wall-standers.

"Have you ever been to a dance like this before?" Kori shouted over the music.

"No," Raven yelled back. "I went to one dance in middle school because Jinx made me, and became a professional wall-stander. How 'bout you?"

"I went to the dances last year, but I never was a wall-stander," Kori shrugged. "I guess there's a first time for everything." Raven shrugged as well.

Kori began scanning the dance floor, most likely looking for friends, but Raven noticed her eyes seemed to fall on Robin and Kitten more often than necessary.

Raven glanced at the two also. Robin looked as if he was trying to force down a particularly nasty piece of food. Kitten held his hands tightly, and was swinging them back and forth so violently that Robin almost lost his footing a few times.

Raven turned away from this rather disturbing sight and found herself looking instead at Garfield and Terra. The song they were dancing to was rather slow, so Terra had both her arms around Gar's neck, and they were swaying slightly. Raven felt her cheeks burn as she watched them, so she turned to look at Jinx.

"Raven, come over here and get dancing!" Jinx called. She and Garth were dancing very close together, which, as Raven noticed, made both of them appear rather pink.

Raven shook her head violently. Jinx raised an eyebrow, and gave her a superior look. She then looked quickly over at Terra and Garfield, then back to Raven. She repeated this several times, and Raven, realizing what this gesture meant, quickly stepped over to where Jinx and Garth were.

"Knew that would get you over here," Jinx said smugly. Raven rolled her eyes, and stood still, her arms crossed.

The song abruptly switched to a faster one. Jinx grabbed Raven's arm with one hand and took Garth's hand in her other. She and Garth adjusted their dancing speed to fit the song that was now playing, and began coaxing Raven into dancing.

"No way," Raven shook her head as Jinx took her arm. "I am not dancing. No."

"Oh yes you are," Jinx cast a glance over at Garfield and Terra again. Raven followed her gaze to see that Terra and Garfield had also adjusted their dancing style to fit the faster music. (_A/N: You all know how high schoolers dance to faster songs, right? Yeah. Cough cough grinding cough cough. That's what all of them will have done by the time the night's over. Even Raven._)

Raven began bobbing up and down slightly. Jinx and Garth smiled at her, Garth encouragingly and Jinx smugly.

"Come over here guys!" Jinx called, releasing her grip on Garth's hand to wave to Kori, Roy, and Leo. The three of them came over, and joined in the dancing. The rest of their group soon joined in their tightly-bunched group, and were soon one big bobbing mass of humans.

Raven, who had been conveniently been caught in the center of the group, was beginning to find that this wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be. Sure, she was in the center of a group of people that were making more contact than she had ever thought possible, but they were all nice people. She even found herself enjoying the fact that Garfield was right next to her in the circle of people.

Raven was just getting used to the fact that there were people pressing in on her from every side when the song changed to a slower one. The group immediately paired off, with a slight exception on Robin's part, and Raven, Kori, Leo, and Roy were one again left standing apart.

Leo seemed to be thinking very hard, then, taking a deep breath, walked over to Kori.

"May I have the honor of this dance?" he asked, bowing. Kori smiled.

"You may," she placed her arms around his neck, and he, almost awkwardly, placed his around her waist. The two smiled and began talking while dancing. Raven noticed that Robin was looking over at the two of them, a look of what was close to longing on his face.

Raven was so absorbed in watching everyone else that it took her a while to realize that Roy was standing right in front of her.

"Care to dance?" he asked, holding out a hand. Raven felt two feelings erupt inside her at once. One was telling her to run away, while the other told her to dance. She took the advice of the latter, for she knew what Jinx would do if she refused.

"Sure," she said, taking his hand. Roy seemed to realize she was uncomfortable dancing, so he simply placed one hand on her back while holding the other. She placed her other hand on his shoulder, thinking that all guys should be gentlemen like Roy. (_A/N: No, I'm not going to be evil and make Raven start liking Roy, don't worry about that. I'm not that evil._)

Raven looked over at Jinx, who was staring at her, nodding slightly with one of those superior looks on her face. Raven chose to ignore this and instead turned back to Roy.

"Hi," she said lamely.

"Well, hello there, fair maiden," Roy said in mock formality. Raven laughed as Roy smiled broadly. (_A/N: No, Roy doesn't like her either. He's just being the ideal guy at the moment…_)

"So, you're a cross country runner, right?" Raven asked, casting around for something to say.

"Yeah," he said. "Coach calls me Speedy. I'm not even that fast." He shrugged. "How 'bout you?"

"I don't do any sports," Raven shook her head. "I write poetry and draw. That's about it."

"Awesome. What do you draw mainly?"

"Cartoons," Raven said truthfully, smiling. "I normally draw them of people at school. Sometimes I sketch realistic drawings, but I don't do that very often."

"Have you cartooned anyone I would know?" Roy asked, looking a bit apprehensive.

"Kori and Terra," Raven giggled. "But that was before I got to know Kori. I drew the whole football team and cheerleading team as a group of grunting gorillas and squealing stick figures." Roy laughed openly.

"Awesome," he said through a laugh.

To the relief of Raven's run-away side, the slower song ended quickly. Roy took a half-step away from her, still holding her hand, and bowed.

"Thank you very much," he smiled as he straightened up.

"You're very welcome," she said as he released her hand. She skip-stepped over to Jinx and Garth, who were now dancing in the regular teenage fashion.

"Finally," Jinx rolled her eyes. "Admit it, it wasn't that bad."

"Fine," Raven stuck out her tongue. "It was fun." She grinned as Jinx enveloped her in a hug, pulling Garth with her.

"Well, we only have to switch partners on the next song or something, and you'll be calling it more than fun," Jinx said. "Hey Garth, do you think we could get the whole switching partners thing started after this dance?" She turned her head to at him as directly as she could.

"Should be a piece of cake," Garth shrugged. "All we have to do is yell out 'Switch!' and they'll all know what to do."

"You know it!" Jinx said, winking. "We've got to get Raven dancing with that special someone by the end of the night." Raven balled her hands into fists, but resisted the temptation to punch her friend lightly.

Raven now dreaded the end of the song. She had no idea what happened when someone yelled out "Switch!" and was afraid to find out. To her horror, the last note of the song began to reverberate.

"SWITCH!" Jinx and Garth yelled. They separated, and their group became a stampeding nightmare. Raven took a step backward, thinking that she would rather stand this one out.

As the little stampede ended, Raven saw that everyone had a new dancing partner. Jinx was now paired with Roy, Kori with Garth, Kitten with Gar, Terra with Vic, and Bea with Robin. Leo was standing by himself, but soon realized that Raven was also, so he side-stepped over to her. She shrugged at him, indicating that she would dance with him.

The song was a fast one, and everyone else in the group began dancing in the typical teenage way.

"Go ahead," Raven said to Leo, who at first looked a bit apprehensive, but then danced with her like everyone else. (_A/N: Our little Raven is growing up!! Everyone go awww._) Raven felt her cheeks burn as Jinx stared at her, her mouth slightly open, but willed herself to ignore Jinx and have a good time.

"Switch!" Everyone except Raven called out as the song ended. The dash to find a new partner began once more.


	12. The Dance, Part 2 GarRae moment

_OK, for anyone who forgot what just happened, they all just switched. YAY!_

_Disclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. But if I did (yes, here we go again) THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN A NEW EPISODE LAST SATURDAY! Okay, I'm done. On with the story!

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This time, Robin had managed to get Kori for a partner. The two of them were both smiling shyly at each other, their cheeks pink. Jinx and Garth were once more dancing together, and they both seemed glad about this. Gar and Terra were dancing together again, as were Vic and Bea. Leo had ended up with Kitten, and Roy with Raven.

Raven felt her face turn a deeper shade of red as she and Steve began dancing. Although she had danced with Leo, she was still uncomfortable. However, as the night went on, she began enjoying herself more and more.

After about a half hour of switching, Raven finally found herself paired up with Garfield. When the song started playing however, it was not a fast one, but a slow one. Raven expected everyone in the group to go back to their dates for this song, but was surprised and pleased when Gar, instead of going back over to Terra, put his arms around her waist and began dancing with her.

Smiling, and feeling her face turn the deepest red it possibly could, Raven put her arms around his neck. She knew that Jinx was staring at her, but did not look away from Gar's face to look at her; she knew she would start laughing insanely if she did.

"You look surprised," Garfield commented, looking at her with an eyebrow raised. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah," Raven stuttered. "I, I just expected you all to switch back to your dates for the slow songs, that's all."

"Well, it's kinda the luck of the draw when you switch," Gar said. "Sometimes you and your date dance the slow songs and sometimes you don't." He smiled at her, making her heart skip a beat.

As the song played, Raven knew that this was going to be the highlight of her evening. The place around her waist where Garfield's arms were began to tingle slightly, and Raven had a strong urge to dance closer to him. She kept the little distance between them the same, however, noticing that he kept trying to catch her eye.

She looked him straight in the eye, just as he had been trying to get her to do, and felt herself drawn towards his eyes. She knew that they were still the same distance apart, but his eyes seemed to be pulling her into their emerald depths.

His eyes were gorgeous, she noticed. She had never been able to tell from the quick glimpses of his eyes how entrancing they were. His pupil was large, trying to trap any and all light from the dim room. The green iris was darker at the center, then became lighter as it fanned out. It was almost like watching a drop of dye spread on a piece of white paper.

As she looked deeper she noticed the twinkle of happiness that was dancing inside the green iris. Yet behind the happiness, she could see something that went deeper. Something like a masked sadness…

All too soon for Raven's liking, the slow song ended, and she heard everyone in the group, except Gar, yell out, "Switch!"

She blinked a few times, trying to bring herself back to reality. As she did so, she noticed that Gar was doing the exact same thing. Had he been as entranced by her purple eyes as she had been with his green ones?

She had little time to contemplate this matter, for after a five second period, Garth had walked over to her and the two of them began dancing.

Raven looked around for Jinx, and saw her dancing with Vic. Raven was surprised to find that her friend did not look as nervous as she would have expected of someone who was dancing with their three-year-long crush.

"You having fun?" Garth asked Raven.

"Yeah," Raven said.

"I think I'm gonna get something to drink after this song's over," Garth told her. "I'll get Jinx to come, of course. Do you want to sit down for a while?"

"That would be awesome," Raven thought almost longingly of the upstairs gym, where the lights were on and there were chairs.

As the song ended, Garth ignored the people yelling 'switch' and walked over to Jinx, no doubt asking her if she wanted to go get a drink. Jinx nodded.

"Anyone else wanna come get a drink or some food?" Jinx called out to the rest of their group. Kori and Leo, who were dancing together, nodded, and walked over to where Jinx and Raven were standing. Roy also joined their little bunch. Robin looked as if he wanted to, but Kitten just hugged him, saying in a simpering voice, "We're fine, aren't we Robbie?"

The group of six quickly exited the dancing gym and headed back upstairs to the upstairs gym. The stairs were completely devoid of people, except for a boy with icy blue eyes and light blonde hair, as everyone else was in the downstairs gym dancing. Raven noticed that the boy gave her a long stare as she walked up the stairs, which caused her stomach to clench.

Raven pushed the boy out of her mind, and instead concentrated on getting up the stairs without tripping on her dress.

Their group made it to the gym quickly, and then _was amazingly cool and brought the punch bowl down to the gym with them and dumped it all on Kitten and Terra. Then Robin and Kori and Garfield and Raven danced the rest of the night. The end._

_Sorry! That isn't what really happens. But you all knew that, right? Just felt like putting a little tidbit in there to make you all happy. OK, onto the REAL story…_

Their group made it to the gym quickly, then claimed one of the circular tables that had been set up with four chairs around them. Kori and Raven pulled more chairs over so all six of them could sit while Jinx, Roy, Leo, and Garth walked over to the punch bowl to get everyone a drink.

The six of them enjoyed themselves for a while, talking about school, their families, hobbies, and basically making small talk for a few minutes before Garth started saying some crazy yet funny jokes.

Jinx, Roy, and Leo joined in the joke-telling after a while, but Raven and Kori hardly noticed. Kori was looking off in another direction, her hands under her chin, while Raven was trying her best to concentrate on what everyone was saying, but found herself instead dwelling on her dance with Garfield.

Jinx's arm bumped Raven lightly as she told an animated joke, jerking her back to reality. She noticed that she and Kori had both pushed their chairs away from the table slightly.

Raven caught Kori's eye, and jerked her head lightly toward an empty table. Kori nodded.

The two of them stood up and walked over to the empty table. Jinx, Garth, Roy, and Leo were all occupied by the joke telling and didn't notice.

"So, how's your night been?" Kori asked as the two of them sat down.

"Pretty good, actually," Raven said, smiling. "I honestly didn't think I'd have fun. But I am! How 'bout you?"

"Well, in all honesty, it could be better," Kori shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, though! I'm having loads of fun, but tonight would just be a bit more fun if, um, well –"

"I know what you mean," Raven cut Kori off, as she obviously was embarrassed by what she had been about to say.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, then, if you don't mind me asking, who's the special guy you wanted to go with?" Kori asked, tilting her head and smiling mischievously. Raven blushed.

"Gar," she whispered, feeling surprised at herself for telling Kori this. Kori's expression changed to one a person might wear when telling someone how cute their new baby is.

"Aww, you two would be so cute," Kori said, her comment matching her expression.

"What about Terra?" Raven asked, feeling slightly confused.

"What about her?" Kori raised an eyebrow. "Just because she went to a dance with him doesn't mean I have to think they're cute together. I personally think that Terra's too critical of other people, and Gar's not a criticism type of guy."

"Not that that wasn't interesting and all, but can we talk about something else?" Raven smiled sheepishly. "I think my head might just explode from being so red." Kori giggled.

"I was hoping to come with Robin," she sighed, "but Kitten asked him first. You know how Robin is; he can never say no."

"I know!" Raven exclaimed. "He's probably regretting it now, though. It's really obvious he's not having fun with Kitten as a date."

"Yeah," Kori agreed. "That switching thing made life easier, though. I was trying to think of a way to get him away from her for a few minutes."

"It was Jinx's idea," Raven said. "Garth helped. Jinx did it so that I would get to dance with Gar." She felt herself turn pink as she said his name.

"I'll have to thank them later," Kori smiled. "That one dance I had with Robin made my night."

"Well, who says you only get to dance with him once?" Raven raised her eyebrows. "You'll dance with him again."

"How do you know?" Kori asked.

"C'mon," Raven stood up and took hold of Kori's arm. The two of them walked over to the other end of the gym, where the table with all the purses was set up. To its right was a desk with a shoebox on it.

"That's how I know," Raven pointed to the shoebox.

Beside the box was a pile of pink ballots. On each were the nominees for homecoming king and queen. Kori and Robin were both nominees.

"How'd you know about that?" Kori asked, picking up a ballot and looking at it.

"Jinx was on the decorating committee, so she helped set up the gym. She told me that you and Robin were nominees."

"Well, we're just nominees," Kori said, trying to find a problem with Raven's proposed plan. "It's not like we've won. Besides, look at all the other people on here! Terra's on here, and I think she's got a better chance than I do. All these other people have a much better chance!"

"I don't think they do," Raven said. "You're so optimistic, aren't you?" Kori laughed.

"I guess you're right," she shrugged, placing the ballot back down on the pile. "Besides, you never know."

Raven picked up a pencil that was on the desk, and checked the boxes next to Kori's and Robin's names on one ballot. She folded the slip of pink paper in half and dropped it into the slit cut into the top of the shoebox.

"Well, you're guaranteed to have one vote, at the very least," Raven smiled.

"Thanks," Kori hugged Raven. Although she was still new to the whole 'hugs every two seconds' thing, Raven hugged her back.

"C'mon," Raven said as Kori released her. "Let's go get Garth, Jinx, Roy, and Leo to vote for you guys too." Kori smiled sheepishly as Raven pulled her across the gym again.

"Where'd you guys go?" Jinx asked as the two of them returned to the table.

"Other side of the gym," Raven answered. "Come on, you have to vote for Kori and Robin." She grabbed Jinx's arm and dragged her out of her seat.

"I forgot all about that," Jinx said as she was pulled along, with Garth, Roy, and Leo following. "We all have to vote for them. C'mon guys." She took Garth's hand in her own, and walked faster across the gym.

Jinx and the three guys all voted for Robin and Kori. Kori went a light shade of pink as they all checked the box next to her name, but kept a smile on her face.

"Let's go back down to the gym," Jinx suggested. "Robin's probably had enough torture by now." She and Garth laughed.

"Yeah, let's go save his life," Garth said dramatically, taking Jinx's hand and leading the way down to the dancing gym.

Raven followed the rest of the group reluctantly, wishing she could have just stayed in the upper gym. As their group entered the gym, Raven noticed that the boy with blonde hair and blue eyes that had stared at her on the stairs was standing with his back against the doorframe, watching everyone come into the gym. He gave her another long stare as she walked in.

"That guy gives me the creeps," she whispered, shuddering.

"He gives everyone the creeps," Kori whispered back.

"Who is he?"

"His name's Malchior," Kori raised her voice a little so as to be heard over the music. "And just to give you a heads up, there's a rumor going around that he likes you." Raven looked at her incredulously.

"Now that's just scary," Raven cast a glance back at Malchior. He saw her looking, and his face split into a smile and he waved.

Raven hastily looked away. Kori and the others had kept walking while she had looked back at Malchior. She caught a glimpse of Jinx's pink hair bobbing up and down in the crowd, and began fighting her way through the mass of people to catch up.

"Excuse me." Raven turned, and gasped. Malchior was standing right next to her. How had he gotten over to her so fast?

"Yeah?" she asked, continuing her fight towards the group, hoping to lose Malchior in the crowd.

"I believe you dropped this," he held out a rose. She took it from him and looked at it for a few seconds before handing it back.

"Wrong person," she said hastily, then stepped around a large group of people and, thankfully, saw the rest of her group.

"Where'd you go?" Jinx asked.

"Nowhere," Raven joined their large group of bouncing people so she could talk to Kori.

"What did he do?" Kori asked, guessing the reason why Raven had lagged behind.

"He gave me a rose," Raven said. "It was kinda creepy."

"Yeah," Kori agreed. "If someone you know hands you a rose, then it's cute. If someone you've never spoken to before hands you a rose, then it's creepy." She glanced over Raven's shoulder, and her eyes widened. "And if someone follows you back to your group, then it's even creepier!"

Raven turned to see Malchior extract himself from between the wall and a person, and walk over to join their group.

"Can I help you?" Kori asked, stepping in front of Raven.

"Yes," Malchior said politely. Raven wasn't sure if he was pretending to be polite or if he was being polite. "I'd like to speak to Raven."

Kori turned around, noticed that the rest of the group was dancing, and that the song was ending, and yelled out, "Switch!"

Raven immediately found herself dancing with Roy.

"She's busy," Kori said pointedly, then turned her back on him to see Robin holding out a hand to her.

"Thanks," Raven smiled at Kori and Roy. She watched in relief as Malchior waked away.

"Any time," Kori said before turning her attention completely on Robin.

"Yeah, any time," Roy echoed, smiling at her.


	13. The Dance, Part 3 King and Queen

_This one's from Robin's point of view. And I'm going to be nice in this chapter. VERY nice. Well, nice to all you RobStar shippers, that is. YAY! I used the song Why Don't You Kiss Her as the song the King and Queen dance to. Yay Jesse McCartney! (No I'm not one of those crazed fangirls. I just like the song.) So I don't own Teen Titans or the song. _:) _And this one's shorter cuz it's kinda a songfic. Enjoy!

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As the song ended, the familiar cries of "Switch!" rang out, but a new song did not start playing. Kori looked around, puzzled.

"Is the dance over already?" she asked Robin, who still held her hand.

"It's too early," he said, pushing up the sleeve of his shirt to check his watch. "We still have another hour. Maybe there's an electrical problem or something." The answer to the problem came at once.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is time to announce the homecoming King and Queen," A man's voice boomed out over the gym, which had fallen silent. "When I announce your names, please come up to the front of the gym."

"It'll be you two," Jinx said, punching Kori's arm lightly.

"I don't think so," Robin said modestly. Jinx rolled her eyes as the man began to read out the names.

"The homecoming Queen is Kori!" Kori turned pink as the crowd began clapping and cheering.

"Told ya!" Jinx said, giving Kori a push toward the front of the gym. "Robin, you might as well follow her." She pushed him as well. He did not move, however, just stood where he was, watching Kori walk up to the front of the gym.

"And the homecoming king is Robin!"

"I knew it!" Jinx said, punching the air and pushing Robin more insistently. Robin looked around, embarrassed, as their whole group, except Kitten, began cheering for him and Kori.

Robin reached the front of the gym rather quickly, and felt his stomach do some complicated acrobatics as he watched Kori have a crown placed on her head. He reluctantly allowed the man to place one on his own head.

"And now the king and queen will share a dance," the man said, putting his microphone down and turning on a slow song.

"Well, Queen Kori, may I have this dance?" Robin asked, bowing as the song started playing.

"You may," she said, putting her arms around his neck. Robin blushed and placed his arms around her waist. The two of them were dancing very close together, which made both of them turn red.

_We're the best of friends_

_And we share our secrets_

_She knows everything that is on my mind_

_Lately something's changed_

_As I lie awake in my bed_

_A voice here inside my head_

_Softly says…_

The people who had been watching the two dance began dancing themselves. Robin felt more comfortable as they began doing so; he had never been a good dancer and never liked to be watched. His eyes circled the room, and he noticed, with a jolt in his stomach, that their group had moved forward and were watching the two of them.

He felt Kori shift her position a little, and noticed that she was now closer to him than she had been before. Robin felt a hot prickle travel down his neck as he noticed just how close she was; he could feel her breath on his neck and the heat of her body close to his.

_Why don't you kiss her?_

_Why don't you tell her?_

_Why don't you let her see_

_The feelings that you hide?_

'_Cause she'll never know_

_If you never show_

_The way you feel inside_

Robin was now looking Kori directly in her green eyes. They were so beautiful and entrancing. They twinkled with happiness at the smallest thing, and always crinkled gently when she smiled. As Robin gazed into them, he realized that he could look into them forever and never want to look away.

Kori smiled gently at him, making the hot prickle on Robin's neck extend up into his head. He felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. The place where her arms were began to feel rather warm as well, but it was not an uncomfortable warm. It made him glow from the inside.

_Oh, I'm so afraid to make that first move_

_Just a touch and we could cross the line_

_Every time she's near_

_I wanna never let her go_

_Confess to her what my heart knows_

_Hold her close_

As the music swirled around the two of them, Robin realized that this song could not be a coincidence. It mirrored his feelings for Kori perfectly, almost as if it was a song made for him. Something other than a lucky pick had played this song.

It was almost as if Kori was thinking along the same lines. Her expression had softened, and she now had her head against Robin's shoulder. If Robin could have frozen time, he would have made this moment last forever.

_Why don't you kiss her?_

_Why don't you tell her?_

_Why don't you let her see_

_The feelings that you hide?_

'_Cause she'll never know_

_If you never show_

_The way you feel inside_

It was almost as if this song was a coach and he was the athlete. Robin found himself seriously considering the song's message and trying to figure out when he would get a chance to tell Kori just how he felt.

He cast a glace over to where the group was standing. Most of them had stopped looking at him, but Jinx, Garth, and Raven were all looking at them with softened expressions on their faces.

Raven seemed to see the debate that was going on inside Robin's head, for she smiled, nodded, and mouthed, "Go for it."

_What would you say?_

_I wonder would she just turn away?_

_Or would she promise me_

_That she's here to stay?_

_It hurts me to wait_

_I keep asking myself_

Robin looked around at the other people around him. No one except the three from their group were watching him. He had never had a more perfect opportunity. So why couldn't he do it?

_'I'm scared.'_ he admitted to himself. _'I'm afraid of what she might say.'_ He looked around at all the people once more, to see Raven still nodding insistently. Jinx seemed to have caught on to what she was doing, so she nodded as well.

_'I'm afraid, but that doesn't mean I can't try,'_ Robin thought, a decision rooted firmly in his head.

_Why don't you kiss her?_

_(Tell her you love her)_

"Um, Kori," Robin uttered her name in barely over a whisper. She removed her head from his shoulder to look into his face.

_Why don't you tell her?_

_(Tell her you need her)_

"Yes Robin?" she whispered, her voice rather breathless.

_Why don't you let her see_

_The feelings that you hide?_

"I just wanted you to know that I really like you," he said, knowing that his face must be beet red.

'_Cause she'll never know_

_If you never show_

"I really like you too," she bit her lip, looking away from him in embarrassment for a second, then snapping her eyes back on his face.

_The way you feel inside_

Robin drew Kori in closer. Their faces were barely an inch apart. Robin knew that Jinx had gotten their entire group to look at them, for he could feel their eyes, but he didn't care. He silently took and released a deep breath, and closed the gap between their lips.

_Why don't you kiss her?_

In the moment barely longer than a second that they kissed, Robin felt as if every part of the world was perfect. His life was now complete, and if he died tomorrow, he would have no regrets at all.

As the last note of the song died away, the two of them broke apart. Both were blushing furiously, but smiling. Kori hugged Robin, her head against his shoulder once more, and Robin hugged her back, one arm around her waist and the other around her back.

Then he heard the scream.


	14. The Dance, Part 4 Rocket

**People who like Terra: DO NOT READ. This chapter will only make you want to hurt me. Read at your own risk, just be warned that if you flame me, I will burn Terra and Malchior with your flames.**

_OK, I know the whole scream thing was hardly a cliffy, but I had to do it! I'm sure all of you knew exactly who screamed and why and all that… So, onward to the story! Oh yeah, this is Raven's POV again. And someone asked in a review if Garfield is gonna say anything about Raven's purple hair. He hasn't noticed it yet – when they saw each other outside, it was dark, he wasn't paying attention in the upstairs gym, and he has been in the lower gym ever since, and it's dark down there too. This chappie is for all you Terra haters! I was glowing when I typed it, but then I felt sad because it was an evil thing to do... oh well. As usual, my diclaimer: I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, Aqualad and Jinx would be a popular ship. (they just kinda randomly popped into my head one day and i was like, "cool.")

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As Raven watched Kori and Robin, she felt something like a great floating sensation in her chest. The two of them had finally figured out the other's feelings for each other, and now they had told each other.

Then she heard the scream.

It did not shock her at all; she had, in fact, been expecting it. She glanced over to her left as a reflex, to see Kitten, the scream still reverberating from her mouth. Her face was red, and her eyes were narrowed into a frown.

"ROBIN!" Kitten screamed. Robin hardly looked up from Kori's head, which was resting on his shoulder. His expression showed that he, too, had been expecting this. Kori lifted her head up from his shoulder almost reluctantly to look at Kitten.

The two of them released each other from their hug, took each other's hands, and walked over to Kitten.

"Yes?" Robin said politely.

"What are you doing with her?" Kitten shouted. "You're here with me!"

"Well, I like her," Robin said in a defensive voice. "I don't want to argue with you. I don't see why this matters to you."

"It matters because," Kitten paused, apparently thinking. Robin and Kori both looked at her impatiently.

"Yes?" Robin asked.

"Never mind," Kitten muttered softly. She scowled at the pair of them, and walked away into the crowd.

"Do you think I hurt her feelings?" Robin asked the group, still holding Kori's hand.

"Nah," Jinx waved this away offhandedly. "Don't worry about it. The two of you should just focus on having fun." She walked over to them and pushed them closer together. "Dancing time."

Robin and Kori both blushed as she did this, but smiled and began dancing close together. Jinx and Garth began dancing a few seconds later, and were soon followed by Gar and Terra and Vic and Bea. Roy and Leo both stood off to the side awkwardly for a while, before Leo smiled at Roy and said, "You go ahead." Roy then came over to Raven, and asked her to dance.

"Sure," Raven accepted his offer and began dancing. She looked a bit to her left for a split second, and saw Malchior looking at the two of them, scowling. She quickly looked away, and found herself focusing on Terra and Gar.

The two of them were facing each other while they danced, even though it was not a slow song playing. Terra was staring almost unblinkingly at Garfield. Raven felt a hot feeling of jealousy rise up inside her as Terra began speaking.

"Kori and Robin sure are cute, aren't they?" She asked. As innocent as this question seemed, Raven had a bad feeling that Terra was going somewhere with it.

"Yeah," Gar said, glancing over at Kori and Robin. Raven looked over as well, and saw that the two of them were dancing very close together, and Kori had her head resting on Robin's shoulder again.

"I can't tell you how happy I was when the two of them kissed," Terra now had a dreamy expression on her face.

"That was pretty happy," Gar agreed once more. The hot feeling of jealously grew more intense in Raven's chest.

"Want to know the one thing that would make me even happier?" Terra asked, tracing the outline of his jacket lightly.

"W-what?" Garfield asked breathlessly.

"If it had been you and me," Terra said, barely over a whisper, but Raven could still hear her. Her feeling of jealously was now so intense that she thought her head might explode.

"Is that what you really want?" Garfield asked Terra, gently pulling her a little closer to him.

"Of course," Terra said in a tone of voice Raven knew not many girls could manage at the age of fifteen.

"Then your wish is my wish," Garfield said softly. Raven wanted to look away, to close her eyes, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight she knew would haunt her forever.

Garfield tilted his head down slightly as Terra wrapped her arms around his neck. Their faces were a good three inches apart, but that gap was closing rapidly.

"Terra!" Raven heard a voice call out. Garfield and Terra, who had been less than an inch apart, quickly pulled away from each other. Raven felt herself melt in relief.

"Who's that?" Terra asked, pulling still farther away from Garfield. Raven was not the only one from their group paying attention now. Their entire group had abandoned their dancing to look at the person who had walked into the middle of their group.

He was tall with bleached hair that looked almost white. He had a slightly upturned nose, and his expression made him look as though he wanted to be somewhere other than here. His jacket was unbuttoned, his tie was loose, and his shirt was untucked.

"Rocket?" Terra asked, peering at the boy through the semi-darkness. (_Yes, I know that it's a stretch using Punk Rocket, but I needed a teenage-ish villain, and I want to save Fang for later._)

"Yeah," the boy named Rocket stepped over to Terra and grabbed both of her hands. "What are you doing with him?"

"Why do you care?" Terra asked, pulling her hands from his grasp. "I mean, it's not like you dumped me two months ago." She said the last sentence sarcastically. (_Yeah, I know this is what Kitten did with Robin in DWD, but I had to have Terra use them somehow._)

"Come on, you knew I wasn't really dumping you," Rocket argued. "We do it all the time. What made you think that that time I meant it?"

"Maybe because I saw you with someone else," Terra sneered at him.

"Sorry," Rocket said with an almost sarcastic emphasis. "But come on, Terra, I didn't really mean any of it."

"Whatever," Terra turned back to Garfield, and made to put her arms around his neck again. Before she could do so, Rocket grabbed her arm, and pulled her back around so she was facing him again. Raven expected him to release her arm after he did that, and was shocked when he kept pulling her and didn't release her until he had his other arm around her waist.

"Knew that would get you," Terra giggled as Rocket led her away from their group and into the crowd of people that surrounded them. A few seconds later, a shriek of laughter erupted from the crowd, unmistakably uttered by Terra. Raven stared, open-mouthed, at the spot where they had disappeared for a few seconds before turning to look at Garfield.

His mouth was open in shock, and his arms hung limply at his sides. His eyes were slightly watery, a look of disbelief, sadness, and anger in them. He blinked once, which seemed to bring him back to his senses. Without a word to anyone, he ran out of the gym and up the stairs.

The entire group had abandoned their dancing and were all standing still, all with looks of anger, disbelief, or surprise on their faces. Bea, Vic, Leo, and Roy all looked disbelieving. Jinx, Garth, and Robin looked angry, while Kori's face had a look of surprise. After a few seconds, Kori surprised all of them by shouting, "Oh, she's gonna pay for that one!"

Without saying anything more, Kori stormed off into the crowd after Terra.


	15. The Dance, Part 5 Terra bashing!

**People who like Terra, do not read this chapter either. Otherwise you will waste your time and energy throwing things at your computer and sending me hate mail.**

_This one's kinda short. Sorry 'bout that. They should be getting longer sooner. I hope. Anyway, I don't own Teen Titans. So on with the story that is a figment of my Titans-filled imagination!!

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Kori fought her way through the crowd of people, using the shrieking giggles as her clues to find Terra and the boy named Rocket. The farther she went into this crowd, the more disgusted she was by some of these people's actions.

Pushing these unpleasant sights into the back of her mind, Kori kept on walking, her destination planted firmly into her head.

When she reached it, however, she thought she might throw up.

Terra and Rocket were dancing in what could be considered the normal teenage way, had they not been attached by the mouth. The two had their bodies so close together Kori was bewildered on how they managed to stay upright.

Kori tried to ignore this new and unpleasant side of her friend, and cleared her throat loudly.

"Terra," she said sternly.

With a sound much like a plunger being pulled from a toilet, Terra extracted herself from Rocket and stepped over to Kori, saying, "This'll only take a sec."

"No it won't just take a sec," Kori said, putting a hand on her hip. "What was all that about?"

"All what?" Terra asked, faking a look of surprise.

"Cut the crap, Terra," Kori frowned. "What was up with all that back there?"

"Oh come on, you didn't actually think I liked Gar!" Terra exclaimed, giving Kori a look that made her want to shrink. "He's an idiot."

"Oh yeah, well the 'idiot' liked you," Kori said loudly. "We all did. Then you just use him to get to someone else. If you had a heart, Terra, you would have thought twice once you saw the look on his face."

"Did I make the poor wittle baby cry?" Terra said sarcastically. "Well it doesn't take much to cheer a teenage guy up. Just find him a girl and he'll have forgotten about me by tomorrow. Now, if you'll excuse me," She turned back to Rocket, but Kori grabbed her arm.

"I'm not finished!" Kori was shouting by now. "I thought I knew you Terra! The Terra I know would never do anything like that! She would never have used someone just to get to someone else. And even if the Terra I know had considered it, she would have never gone through."

Terra scoffed.

"Terra, you're my best friend!" Kori pleaded, clasping her hands around both of Terra's wrists. "We've known each other since kindergarten. We've told each other everything for ten years! I've told you everything! Why couldn't you trust me enough to tell me about him? Why did you keep it a secret?"

"Why did I keep it a secret?" Terra asked, laughing. "Look at you now! Not even giving him a chance. I knew you'd think that Rocket's nothing more than gum on the bottom of your shoe. That's why I never told you."

"Terra, I have nothing against him," Kori felt her anger getting the best of her. "It's you I have the problem with. You're the one who made Gar feel like he was floating at the top of the sky. Imagine for one second that that had been you with your dream guy. You think he's the one for you, then you find out he was acting the whole time, just to get at someone else. Put yourself in his shoes for just a second, then tell me you did nothing wrong."

"You're wasting my time, Kori," Terra said impatiently. "I think it's time you went back to your dear Robbie-wobbie."

"I'll tell you when it's time for me to leave," Kori yelled, jabbing Terra in the shoulder with her finger. "And it's not now. I haven't finished with you yet. Doesn't anything bother you? Does anyone in your life matter?"

"Of course," Terra said, finally dropping her sarcastic tone to speak seriously. "My friends matter to me. My family matters."

"What friends?" Kori asked, crossing her arms.

"Well, you matter," Terra was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Look, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you about Rocket. I shouldn't have expected the worst out of you."

"I don't even see why you did expect me to act like that," Kori said. "When was the last time I had a grudge against anyone?"

"Never," Terra admitted. "Okay, Okay, so I misjudged you. I'm sorry."

"Terra, I don't even know why that crossed your mind. We've known each other for ten years. You know everything about me. What more do you need to know to figure out that I don't hold grudges?"

"I'm sorry, Kori," Terra hung her head and spoke quietly to the floor. "I promise never to keep secrets from you again."

"But you're still not sorry for what you did!" Kori excalimed, raising and lowering her arms in disbelief. "I don't care about my feelings. What about Gar's feelings? Are you ever gonna apologize to him?"

"Look, Kori, I really don't think –"

"That's right," Kori said, shaking her head. "You didn't think. Because if you had, you would have known that hurting my friend's feelings hurts me too. You would have thought about everyone else there who was watching you use Gar to make yourself happy. And you would have realized that it would matter to us."

"To all of us."

Kori turned around. Their entire group, minus Garfield and Vic, were standing behind her, their arms crossed, all frowning at Terra. Raven was standing the closest to Kori, and it had been she that had spoken. Out of the seven that were frowning, Raven's frown was the deepest and her eyes held the most hostility.

"OK," Terra said, looking a bit scared now. "I'm sorry."

"No you're not," Kori felt her eyes begin to water. "If you were, I would be able to see it."

"But I am," Terra pleaded, but her face did not match her tone of voice. Although her voice sounded weak and sorry, her face did not look sorry at all.

"No," Kori said, shaking her head. "You're not sorry at all. You've been my best friend for ten years. I know you enough to see when you're sorry and when you're not. And you know when I'm sorry and when I'm not. So now you'll know that I am not sorry when I say that you are not my best friend anymore." Kori took a few steps backward to join the group, a tear running down her cheek. "They are my best friends. Goodbye, Terra."

Kori turned her back on Terra, and led the group back to where they had been standing before, away from all the people who were dancing in an inappropriate way.

Kori was immediately bombarded with compliments.

"She SO deserved that, Star!" Jinx shouted while jumping up and down.

"You were awesome!" Garth said loudly, jumping up and down as well.

"That was amazing Kori," Robin said, taking her hand and kissing it. Kori blushed as he did this, but felt a growing sensation of happiness rise up in her.

"Yeah," Raven extracted herself from the crowd, coming into their spot a good minute after everyone and looking pleased. "That was amazing." Kori looked at Raven suspiciously. She noticed that Raven cracked the knuckles on her right hand, but other than that, she was acting no differently than she had been before.

_I'll let your imaginations fill in the missing pieces here. I didn't want any violence between Kori and Terra, but I'm more lenient when it comes to Raven and Terra. And remember, I never said what Raven did. She might have hit her hand on something other than Terra's swelling lip… You never know._


	16. The Dance, Part 6 Vic helps Gar

_This chapter takes place only a few seconds after Kori storms off to go give Terra a piece of her mind. It's from Vic's POV. Sorry it took so long for me to post it up. Homework has gotten insane as it's the last week of the grading period. Curse you chemistry experiment write-ups!!! (and English essays) And I had a brainburst for another story, and couldn't rest until I had it all typed up. Not lying. I seriously had a dream about it and woke up in the middle of the night going, "Must type story…" But we have a four day weekend coming up, so that should help me get a lot more done! YAY!_

_And, of course, I don't own Teen Titans.

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"One of us should go talk to him," Vic said, still staring at the spot where Kori had forced her way between two boys.

"Yeah," Roy agreed. Vic took his eyes off the spot, and turned back to look at their group. Robin looked worried, Roy, Garth, Bea, Jinx, and Leo all looked angry, and Raven looked furious.

"Or one of us should help Kori knock some sense into Terra," Raven said under her breath, but Vic heard her.

"I'll talk to him," Vic offered. He smiled reassuringly at the group before leaving the gym and heading up the stairs. He frowned at the boy named Malchior, having noticed that he had been hanging around, giving Raven strange looks.

As Vic entered the upstairs gym, he almost immediately noticed Garfield sitting alone at a small table. His head was resting in his hands.

Vic felt something inside himself soften. He walked over to where Gar sat and sat in the seat opposite him. Gar looked up as he did so. His eyes were red, and there were tear stains on his cheeks.

"Hey," he said in a hoarse voice. "Are you here to try and cheer me up? 'Cause it won't work."

"No," Vic said shortly, making Gar's look of misery turn into surprise. "I'm here to listen to you vent." He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, waiting for Gar to start talking.

"What?" Gar asked, now confused.

"You'll get nowhere if I just tell you it's alright and that everything's gonna be okay. You need to be the one talking. I know you don't want to, but you'll feel better in the end."

"Really?"

"I promise you."

"Okay," Gar cleared his throat and wiped his cheeks. "So, uh, when Terra first asked me to go to the dance with her, I thought she actually wanted to go with me. Is that where I'm supposed to start?"

"You tell me," Vic said, smiling.

"Uh, ok," Gar continued on. "Well, I've liked Terra for a while, and I though she meant it when she said she really liked me and wanted to be with me. But then she just backstabbed me so someone else would like her." He sniffed. "I feel so stupid right now." He laid his head down on the table. "It feels like I should have known better. Almost like I should have realized it. It was all just so real that I though that it had to be real. And then I realized it wasn't real when she just went with that other guy and then I felt all bad and then I came up here and then I felt like the world was ending and all these thoughts were going through my head and then you showed up." Gar finished this long sentence and took a deep breath. "Now I don't know what I'm gonna do. She's a cheerleader and I'm the mascot, we're partners for the history project, and we just had our seats changed in math and I sit next to her. What am I gonna do, Vic?"

"Well, I can't tell you what you should do to fix all those," Vic said truthfully. "But I can tell you what you're not going to do. You're not going to sit up here sulking and crying while there's a bunch of your friends down there waiting for you to come back down and have fun."

"But I don't think I can have fun," Gar insisted, lifting his head off the table.

"That's not true, man," Vic countered. "I had a friend who went through something like this, and he told me he felt guilty because everyone expected him to be moping and sad all the time, but what he really wanted was to have fun. People kept asking him how he was or if he needed to talk to anyone and all the usual questions, but he just wanted everyone to let it go and let him get on with his life. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but that's exactly what you're thinking."

"Yeah," Gar perked up a bit. "I do want to have fun. And you're right; I do feel almost guilty for wanting to have fun."

"Well, don't let that stop you," Vic punched his arm lightly. "All you going down and having fun will do is show Terra that she may have hurt your feelings, but you still know how to have a good time. Now, come on, man. Let's go." Vic stood up, but Gar remained in his seat.

"Hey Vic?" Gar asked, looking down at the table with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Yeah?" Vic sat down again.

"Is it wrong for me to still have feelings for her?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I expect people will think that I hate her or something, and I feel as if I should hate her, and I do, but I still have those old feelings for her. I still kind of like her, but it's not like it used to be. Is that okay?"

"Of course it's okay," Vic smiled warmly at Gar. "Feelings for someone, especially the good feelings, don't go away right away. It's perfectly normal to still like her, because you haven't fully accepted the fact that it has happened. Once a few days go by, your feelings will disappear."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Thanks, Vic," Gar said, standing up.

"Anytime, man," Vic punched his arm lightly. The two boys exited the gym in silence until they reached the stairs and saw Malchior standing at the top of the stairway. Vic glared at him again.

"Wasn't that the guy that was bugging Raven?" Gar asked.

"Sure was," Vic said. "Man, he does not take a hint."

"I just wish for Raven's sake he would just give it up," Gar said, and Vic noticed a faint blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Do you like Raven, Gar?" Vic asked in a sing-song voice. "You're blushing."

"No," Gar said quickly. "And I am not blushing." However, he turned a deeper shade of pink as he said this.

"Well, I think she'll be very happy to see you," Vic said as they entered the darkened gym. "C'mon, man, let's find everyone and show that witch that she can't ruin Gar's night!"

Vic and Gar quickly found their group. Kori and Robin, Jinx and Garth, and Bea and Leo were all dancing. Raven was standing a bit apart from the group, and she tapped Jinx on the shoulder when she caught sight of the two boys.

"All right, they're back!" Garth exclaimed. The rest of the group looked over to where Vic and Gar stood at his words. All of them broke into wide smiles, seeing the small grin on Gar's face. Vic noticed that Raven looked the happiest of everyone.

Smiling in a sly way, Vic nudged Gar in the back with his elbow, then looked pointedly at Raven when Gar turned around. Gar followed Vic's gaze, and he noticed that Raven blushed as the two looked at her.

Taking the hint, Gar went over to Raven, held out a hand, and asked, "Want to dance?"

"Sure," Raven said, taking his hand. The rest of the group all smiled at the two for a few seconds before turning back to their own dance partners. Vic walked over to Bea, and the two began dancing.

"So, what'd you tell him?" Bea asked. "Because whatever you did, it worked."

"I just had him vent for a bit, then told him it's okay to want to have fun," Vic shrugged. "Then I teased him 'cause he blushed when he was talking about Raven."

Bea laughed, then looked over at Gar and Raven. Vic looked as well, to see the two dancing close together. They were talking with each other, an occasional nervous laugh escaping both of them.


	17. Afterparty! Stuffed Animals

_OK, the dance is now over, and all of them have been driven over to Jinx's house for the after party. Gar came too, even though he wasn't in their group before. He's with friends, and this party is going to be the craziest Raven has ever been to. Oh yeah, and Kitten didn't come back to their group when the dance ended, so she didn't come. You all probably figured that one out, but you know, just had to clarify that. Oh yeah, and this is from Raven's POV._

_And I don't own Teen Titans.

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Raven looked down at the small blue duffel bag she held in her hands. Her mom had packed her favorite pajamas, her toothbrush, and her stuffed elephant for the night at Jinx's house. As she looked at the elephant, whose name was Mr. Trunkie, she felt as if she was only five years old.

Raven sighed quietly. She wished she was five years old. Too young to understand all the arguments that her parents had. Too young to wonder why Mommy had all those strange shaped bruises. Too young to care about anything other than making sure her night light was always on.

"You all right?"

Jinx's voice broke in on Raven's thoughts. She looked up, and was slightly startled to see that she was standing in Jinx's bedroom, holding a duffel bag and accompanied by three other girls.

"Yeah," Raven said hoarsely, before clearing her throat and repeating, in a clearer voice, "Yeah." Jinx came over to stand next to her, and looked down into her duffel bag.

"It's Mr. Trunkie!" she screamed excitedly, seizing the small stuffed elephant and beginning to dance around the room with it. "I haven't seen him for ages!" Raven felt her cheeks burn, and felt relieved that none of the guys, Garfield in particular, were in the room.

"Aw, he's cute," Kori walked over to where Jinx was now flopped down on her bed, holding Mr. Trunkie above her, making him do a silly little dance.

"He reminds me of my favorite stuffed animal," Bea giggled. "Mine's a stuffed gorilla named Danny."

"Jinx has a giraffe named Ploopie-Woop," Raven said, laughing.

"Hey!" Jinx yelled as Kori and Bea erupted into a fit of laughter which resulted in the two of them writhing on the floor. "I was two when I named him! The name just kinda stuck." She cast a glance to a corner of her room, in which a rather battered-looking giraffe lay.

"How 'bout you, Kori?" Bea asked as the two heaved themselves up from the floor.

"I named my favorite teddy bear Mowy, because I couldn't say the letter 'l' when I named her," Kori said, smiling as a hint of a blush crept into her cheeks.

After the laughter subsided, Jinx tossed Mr. Trunkie back over to Raven, saying, "You'd better get you PJ's on. We've left the guys unattended in the basement for way too long. We'll be lucky if they haven't found my mom's album of our baby pictures."

Thinking about all the embarrassing pictures Jinx's mom had of her and Jinx, Raven hastily took her pajamas out of her bag and pulled them on. After wearing a dress for three hours, Raven felt glad to be pulling on her favorite long-sleeved pajamas.

"C'mon," Jinx led the way out of her room. Her still curly pink hair bobbed as she bounded down the stairs. Kori and Bea followed, and Raven brought up the rear.

The four girls went all the way down to Jinx's large basement, and looked out on it from the stairs.

The six guys were spread all over the room; Vic and Robin were lounging on the squashy couch, Leo, Roy, and Garth were all standing over by the ping pong table, and Garfield was busy looking at Jinx's family's large collection of music. All six looked up as the girls entered, and Raven found herself immediately wishing she was wearing something other than pajamas with silly black birds on them.

"All right, they're back!" Vic exclaimed. Jinx vaulted over the banister to land on the arm of the sofa. Raven, Kori, and Bea all walked down the stairs the rest of the way, making a less dramatic entrance.

Robin and Vic moved to either end of the couch, making more room. Kori and Bea immediately sat down next to the two. Jinx began pulling beanbags and large pillows in front of the sofa for everyone else, helped by Raven, as she knew where everything was.

The rest of the guys, Raven, and Jinx all sat on the beanbags and pillows, huddled together so they were all in front of the television. Jinx picked up the remote, and turned the large TV on.

"What are we watching?" she asked, picking up a few movies from the floor. "We've got Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Napoleon Dynamite…"

She trailed away as the majority of the group shouted, "Napoleon Dynamite!"

Jinx put the DVD in, turned the television to the right settings, and played the movie.

_Yeah, I know this one was really short, but that was because I needed something to fill up the space before I got to the good parts._


	18. Afterparty! Truth or Dare

_OK, this is gonna sound REALLY lame, but I've never seen Napoleon Dynamite. And yet I picked it as their movie. Someone explain to me why I did that. Please. Oh well. So they're about a half hour into the movie now, since during the first half hour people usually have good movie etiquette. But after that, no one watches it anymore. So they are now completely ignoring the movie and are doing other stuff. Such as games… And by the way, Jinx's family is LOADED._

_And if you love Teen Titans as much as I do, please visit go to xanga dot com / Save Teen Titans (with underscores between Save Teen Titans) and consider posting! All you have to do is email me and I'll give you the password! Please help save Teen Titans!!!_

_And a big apology for not updating in like forever. I now officially hate school and xanga for the present. Dude, those xangas are addicting things!!! __Please throw things at me._

_You can stop throwing now. I don't own Teen Titans. If I did, THEY WOULDN'T BE GETTING CANCELLED! -goes off to cry in a corner-

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"Why are we watching this?" Raven asked for the fifth time, slumped in her beanbag, a look of extreme boredom on her face.

"Because it's hilarious!" Garfield laughed so hard at the movie that tears streamed down his face. "I never get tired of this movie. GOSH!"

This made everyone laugh hysterically. Raven allowed herself a small chuckle before assuming her blank expression again. She stared at the screen, not really looking at it, for a minute before turning around to look at the people behind her.

"Anyone else bored out of their mind?" she asked.

"Me," Vic raised his hand in the air. Bea, Kori, and Leo did the same.

"Hey, Jinx?" Kori asked. "Can we find something else to do? No offense or anything."

"Yeah," Jinx turned around to talk to Kori. "Raven knows my house. She'll find something fun for you all to do until the rest of us get bored."

"C'mon," Raven stood up and beckoning for Kori, Bea, Vic, and Leo to follow her. Jinx's basement was divided into two parts. One was mainly used as an entertainment center, seeing as the television was in that part. The other part had the family computer, office area, and the family's enormous collection of CDs.

Raven went into that area, and soon everyone was looking through the CDs, picking out favorite songs. They eventually ended up playing the songs quietly, so as not to disturb the others watching the movie.

"Can we play this one?" Kori asked, holding up the soundtrack to _Brother Bear_.

"Sure," Raven took out the CD that was playing and put it in for her. The song _Look Through My Eyes_ started playing.

"This one's so cute," Bea smiled as they all listened to the song.

_So don't run/Don't hide/It will be all right/You'll see/Trust me/I'll be there/Watching over you_

"I love this song!" Jinx said as she ran over to join them.

_There will be times/On this journey/All you'll see is darkness_

"Me too!" Raven, Kori, and Bea all said. They all laughed and grouped into a huddle, singing along in various pitches. Kori, Raven, and Jinx all attempted to sing higher notes, while Bea settled for lower ones. They all sang a chord that was so off they all held their ears and laughed.

"My ears! My ears!" Kori exclaimed dramatically. "Make it stop!"

"What on earth was that?" Robin asked. They all uncovered their ears and looked over to where Robin, Gar, Roy, and Garth were looking at them with expressions of concern and confusion.

"Didn't you like our lovely singing?" Bea asked, making everyone laugh again.

The four movie-watchers vaulted the sofa and came over to join them.

"Dude, you so can't have a party without Relient K," Garfield picked up a CD from the small stack on the desk. Jinx held out a hand, and he gave it to her.

_Take a look through my eyes/There's a better place somewhere ou-_

_A roll of the dice/A slip of the tongue/I was stirring up the hornet's nest/and finally got me stung_

"Whoa oh, whoa oh!" Everyone yelled, resulting in yet another fit of laughter.

"This is so much more fun than the dance," Raven said.

"Always is," Garfield replied, taking her hand and spinning her around.

"Whoa, you better not make me fall over," Raven's comment was lost as everyone else yelled out, "Whoa oh, whoa oh!" again. Jinx caught her eye and winked. Raven smiled back, feeling her cheeks turn pink.

"Hold up," Garfield held up his hands and looked at Raven. "Since when is your hair purple?"

"What?" Raven put a hand up to her hair, which was now hanging down, just above her shoulder. "Oh, yeah. Jinx did it before the dance."

"It looks awesome," Gar smiled faintly.

"Thanks," Raven said softly. The two stood looking at each other for a full minute before the introduction of another song brought them out of their little made up world.

"Dude, this is like the best song ever!" Gar exclaimed, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"You know it, man!" Vic yelled, holding up his hand for a high-five. Raven, still blushing, made her way over to where Jinx and Garth were looking through all the CDs. She joined them in their search for their favorite songs, and, spotting a familiar white CD, handed it to Jinx. Jinx opened her mouth in a wide smile, giving Raven a look that said, 'I can't believe I didn't think of this first.'

Jinx put the CD in and fast forwarded to track six. Everyone except two people all looked at each other, smiling slyly as they recognized the opening notes. Robin and Kori looked at each other, blushing.

_We're the best of friends/And we share our secrets/She knows everything that is on my mind_

"Reenactment! Reenactment! Reenactment!" everyone chanted.

"Um," Robin looked at Kori.

"Maybe not?" Kori asked hesitantly.

"Hey Kori!" Bea yelled out. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth, because I know what you'll make me do if I say dare," Kori's face turned redder.

"Do you want to kiss Robin again?" Bea asked as everyone else roared their approval.

"Yes," Kori said quietly, giggling as she bit down hard on her knuckle. "But I don't want him to get forced into anything…" She trailed away as Robin walked over to her, taking her into his arms like he had done at the dance.

"I want anything you do," he said softly before kissing her on the lips.

There were appropriate 'awws' from Raven, Jinx, and Bea, while Leo, Roy, Garth, Gar, and Vic all had enough respect to stay silent.

The two broke apart a few seconds, later, blushing identical shades of red. They smiled sheepishly at each other before turning to everyone else.

"Hey, Bea, Truth or Dare?" Kori asked, casting a glance back at Robin and winking.

"Dare," Bea said, not realizing what she had said. "No, wait!" she realized what trap she had fallen into.

"I dare you to kiss someone," Kori laughed, smiled evilly. "So, who will it be?" She looked pointedly at Vic when she said this. Vic looked around the room, embarrassed, when he noticed everyone except Bea were staring at him.

"Uh, nobody?" Bea asked hopefully.

"Come, on, you know you want to," Jinx said, giving her a little nudge towards Vic. Raven, Gar, Garth, Roy, and Leo all laughed quietly at the look on Vic's face.

"Fine," Bea crossed her arms, a slight frown on her face, "but I'm not kissing anyone who doesn't want me to." She looked around at all the guys in the room, her eyes pausing momentarily on Vic.

"All right," Vic said, taking the hint that everyone was giving him. He walked over to where Bea stood and kissed her. They broke apart after a second, smiling sheepishly and blushing.

"See, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Kori asked teasingly.

"No," Bea said as Vic put an arm around her shoulders. "Jinx! Truth or dare?"

"Truth!" Jinx rolled her eyes. "I know what you guys'll do if I say dare."

"Which guy do you like the best, out of everyone here?" Bea asked.

Raven watched, smiling slightly, as Jinx's cheeks flushed a light pink color. Kori looked a bit sympathetic, but Bea was smiling like Raven.

"Garth," Jinx said in barely over a whisper, biting her lip as she did so. (_No, she's not lying. Raven thinks she is…but oh well._) Everyone's heads turned as one to look at Garth, who wore a look of shock. Raven, however, looked at Jinx suspiciously for a second, receiving one of those, 'I'll tell you later' looks. Raven shrugged and turned to look at Garth like everyone else.

"Really?" he managed to choke out in a voice that sounded strangled.

"Yeah," Jinx smiled.

"Awesome!" Garth exclaimed, surprising everyone when he jumped into the air. He came over to Jinx, knelt down on one knee, and said, so seriously that it made everyone else laugh, "Jinx, will you marry me?"

"Ask again in ten years!" Jinx laughed so hard that tears streamed down her cheeks. She stuck out a hand, which Garth took, and pulled him up off his knee.

"I never realized how painful that is," Garth rubbed his right knee.

"Well, now you're prepared for the future," Jinx's laugh turned to a squeak as he kissed her on the cheek.

"Everyone else was doing it," Garth shrugged as Jinx turned to look at him, a look of playful anger on her face. "I figured I could too."

Jinx hugged him.

"Your turn Raven!" Bea said.

"What? No way!" Raven held up her hands and backed away from everyone. "I think I'll pass on that one."

"Truth or dare?" Jinx called over to her.

"Truth," Raven said, dreading the question she would be asked.

"Please pick dare," Jinx said, pouting.

"Truth."

"Dare."

"Truth."

"Dare."

"Truth!"

"Truth!"

"Dare!"

"Finally!" Jinx yelled, a look of triumph on her face.

"What?" Raven frowned. "Oh CRAP!! How does that one get me?"

"It does every time," Jinx whispered to Garth. She walked over to Raven and whispered something in her ear.

Raven's face turned purple.


	19. Afterparty! Gar and Rae

_Melvin's in this chapter!! I loved Melvin in Hide and Seek so much that I just had to include her! She's Jinx's little sister. And Raven doesn't have to kiss Gar as the dare. Sorry to disappoint you, but no. BUT…this is my personal favorite chapter. You'll see why at the end. And I did write Raven's song._

_And, as usual, I do not own Teen Titans and I never will. But I really want to! Because then Lightspeed would be showing every single day! Because I missed the beginning when I saw it and I have to wait until Sunday to see it! grr... I love Kid Flash! And I need to see that episode again! (Oh yeah, Kid Flash may be making an appearance in here later...hint hint)

* * *

_

"I am not doing that!" Raven said loudly. "No way!"

"Come on, Raven!" Jinx pouted and made puppy eyes. "I didn't dare you to kiss anyone!"

"What did you dare her to do?" Roy asked.

"I dared her to sing a song," Jinx said, smiling.

"What song?" Leo and Robin asked together.

"It's a song I wrote," Raven said quickly before Jinx could say anything more. "I don't really like it that much, but Jinx thinks it's good."

"Please sing it, Raven," Star made puppy eyes like Jinx. "I'm sure it's lovely!"

"Come on, Rae," Jinx pleaded. "We have a piano. You play along if you want. I'll even sing it with you!"

"No," Raven said quietly.

"Please?" everyone asked at the same time.

"No," Raven said shortly. "I am not singing and nothing anyone says can make me!" (_Of course you are Raven, geez…_)

…Five Minutes Later…

_When someone has a sleepover/And can only invite five/I'm always number six/And when someone throws a party/And can invite fifteen friends/I'm number sixteen/And when we partner up in class/I'm the one who's odd/And I ask/Do I fit in here?_

Raven had her eyes tightly shut as she sang the song that she had written. Jinx was right, as long as her eyes were closed, it wasn't as bad.

_I'm a cartoon freak/I'm a poetry nut/I'm weird/And abnormal/You call me these things/But is that/What I really am?_

_I'm the one who says hi to you/In the hallway/But you didn't hear/I'm the one who has the friends that change/In ways that I cannot/They never say hello/And I try to make new friends/But that doesn't always work/And I end up getting ignored_

_I am a dork/I'm a crazy writer/I'm strange/And I'm different/You call me these things/But is that/What I really am?_

_As I walk around the neighborhood/Each and every day/I wonder who I am/Who am I supposed to be?/Am I who I should be?/What should I do with my life?/Then the answer comes to me/It's plain for all to see/To succeed I need to be me_

_I am a friend/I am a daughter/And I'm a Christian/I call myself these things/And soon you will too_

_I am a person/I am a human being/I exist too/I now know who I am/And so do you_

Raven opened her eyes as she finished the song. Everyone, including Jinx, had their mouths hanging open, their eyes wide with shock. Then, almost numbly, they began to clap.

"That was amazing!" a voice from the door said. Raven turned to see Jinx's whole family standing there, clapping just like everyone else. Jinx's mother came over to Raven and hugged her.

"That was beautiful, sweetie," she said.

"Thanks, Mom," Raven smiled for the first time since she had started singing.

"Raven?" Jinx's little sister, Melvin, had come over and was pulling on the leg of Raven's pajamas. "Did you make that up?"

"Yeah, I did," Raven said, bending down so she was eye-to-eye with the little girl.

"That was really good," Melvin wrapped her short arms around Raven's neck. "Bobby thinks so too."

"Well tell Bobby thank you from me," Raven said, smiling as Melvin released her. Melvin nodded, and skipped back over to where Jinx's mother and father stood.

"Now it's time for you to get to bed, young lady," Jinx's father picked Melvin up and placed her neatly on his shoulders. Raven couldn't help watching them with a look of what was close to longing on her face.

Her father never had been the family man. She had never been carried on a shoulder ride like Melvin was being carried. Her father had never even bothered to check and make sure she went to bed on time.

"Raven?" Garfield's voice brought her out of her thinking. She noticed that Jinx's family was no longer standing at the door. She hastily turned back to face everyone else.

"Yeah?" she asked, feeling flustered.

"Great song," Gar pulled her into a hug. Feeling her face turn red, Raven hugged him as well.

"Hugging time!" Kori and Bea shouted, and the whole group bounded together in one gigantic group hug, with Raven and Gar, who were still hugging each other, in the middle.

"Well, this is interesting," Vic said after a few seconds. Everyone broke apart soon after this, except for (_guess who!_) Gar and Raven. Both had their heads resting on the other's shoulder, and were holding each other quite close.

"Shh," Jinx put a finger to her lips. She motioned for the rest of the group to leave the portion of the basement they were in and return to the other one. They did so, and after Raven, Gar, and Jinx were the last ones in that part, Jinx turned on some slow-paced music. Then she dashed out of the part of the basement, closed the door that separated the two parts, and locked it. (_No, this is not the seven minutes of heaven thing. They're just being weird. Or nice. It depends how you look at it._)

Raven and Gar started swaying to the music almost automatically. They didn't notice that they were the only ones left in the room. Both had their eyes closed and were off in their own little world.

..::Gar's Thoughts::..

_Vic was right. I do like Raven. Wow, this is so cool. There's music playing, we're dancing and hugging each other, and no one else is making any weird noises at us or anything. I would open my eyes, but if I did, I would see them laughing silently behind their hands, and I wouldn't be able to keep dancing with Raven._

_Nah, I'm not just dancing with Raven. Dude, I'm practically holding her! We both have our heads resting on each other's shoulders for crying out loud. I'm not just practically holding her, I _am_ holding her._

_Why are these thoughts of Terra coming back to me now? Why? I'm holding someone I really care about, and I'm thinking about her? Why am I remembering what it was like to dance with Terra? Why do I keep thinking I am dancing with Terra? Why is it that when I dance with Raven, all I can think of is Terra? What's wrong with me?_

_I guess this is what Vic was talking about. How it doesn't really sink in for a while. I guess I still haven't realized that Terra actually did do that._

_Snap out of it Gar! Terra never liked you. You are dancing with Raven, and you will think about Raven, not Terra. Got it?_

_That's better. Remember how you and Raven danced earlier today? It was a slow song, remember that? Yeah, there you go. That was the one where the two of you were looking into each other's eyes._

_Raven's eyes are so beautiful! I've never seen anyone whose eyes were that color purple before. They sparkle with happiness at the smallest things, and when they do, they seem to light up her whole face. So do her smiles. They do that too. Just the way she curves her mouth up and peals of laughter come out when she's very happy is enough to make anyone smile. And it's not like she has a beautiful laugh either. Her laugh is anything but beautiful. It sounds like she's choking over the laughs each time she's laughing…_

..::Raven's Thoughts::..

_To think that the whole night of the dance would lead up to this! I never thought I would so much as have a conversation with Gar, let alone a dance with him. And now here we are, holding each other in Jinx's basement, swaying in time to some music._

_Oh my gosh, what are the others doing? They're probably gloating right now as we dance here. That whole group hug and turning on the music thing must have been a set up. But I have to admit, if that's the type of set up Jinx wants to pull on me, I'm fine with that._

_Don't think about them Raven. Just forget they're there. Pretend it's just you and Gar, alone in the basement. Think about this moment, and what's happening here and now. Think about Gar._

_Garfield Logan. The one guy I never hoped to ever speak to in my life has now become the one guy I'm sharing the most romantic moment of my life with. I feel comfortable around him. Even though my face still turns red, I can talk to him without making a fool of myself. I guess all I needed was one night to get to know him._

_No one has ever held me like this; tight against their chest, holding me close as if letting me go would be the challenge of their life. I've hugged my mom plenty of times, but never has any man or boy hugged me like this._

_It makes me feel protected. Like as long as his arms are around me, nothing bad will ever happen. I feel as if I could sing in front of the whole school. As if I could walk around the entire neighborhood in a princess dress. As if I could yell at my father that I'm running away to join the circus. I could do any of those things, as long as Gar's still holding me._

..::Back to Raven's POV::..

Raven suppressed a gasp as Garfield moved one of his hands up her back to rest on her head. He stroked her hair as if it was made of the finest material known to man before carefully placing his hand back on her back.

Raven opened her eyes to look up into his green ones.

"Sorry," Gar muttered.

"For what?" Raven asked.

"You mean, you didn't mind?" Gar asked, surprised.

"Not a bit," Raven smiled as she felt herself fall under the spell of those magical green eyes again.

"Raven?"

"Yes?"

"Your eyes, they're just," Gar paused, searching for the right word, "entrancing. They're so beautiful and when I look into them, I never want to look away."

"Same with me," Raven said, noticing that Gar seemed taken aback.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really," Raven answered.

The two of them ceased talking and simply looked into each other's eyes. Then, almost as if he could not help himself, Gar leaned down and kissed her. He abruptly pulled away a second later.

"Sorry," he said hastily. "I don't know why I did that. You probably didn't want to and now I made this awkward and when I do that I can't stop talking and now I can't stop even though I know I'm talking way too fast and not breaking off the sentence and –"

"Gar," Raven said softly, breaking his long sentence. "I didn't mind." She smiled shyly as a look of surprise crossed over his face.

"Oh," Gar looked taken aback. "Well, uh…"

He stopped talking, and slowly began moving his face closer to hers. Raven straightened up, standing as tall as she could without raising herself to her toes, and he kissed her again.

Raven closed her eyes and returned his kiss. Gar had his arms around her, they were kissing in the basement, and nothing could bother her now, except…

"Oh my gosh!" The two of them exclaimed as they broke apart. They began frantically looking around the room, trying to see where the others were hiding.

"Where are they?" Gar asked, bending down so he could look under the desk.

"I don't know," Raven walked over to the door and pressed her ear against it. She heard voices, so she motioned to Gar to come over. He did, and the two listened through the door to the conversation going on outside.

"They've been in there for a while," Raven heard Robin saying.

"Do you think they've noticed we're gone?" Bea asked.

"Well, if they have, they're certainly not acting like it," It was Jinx who was speaking now. "I expected them to start hammering the door down when they found out we were gone and left them locked in the room together."

"We're locked in?" Raven asked as the both drew away from the door.

"I guess so," Gar shrugged.

"And we're all alone?" Raven asked.

"Yeah," Gar shrugged again.

"I feel pretty stupid right now," Raven said, smiling and letting out a small laugh. "I was so worried about them all watching that I ruined the best moment of my life."

"Well," Gar said slowly, walking over to her and taking her into his arms again, "who says it ended right there?"


	20. Afterparty! Baby Pictures

_Nothing funny happened between Raven and Gar, so get those ideas out of your heads, perverted ones!!__And another apology on how long this chapter took._

_You all know it: I don't own Teen Titans, and never will. -runs off and cries-

* * *

_

Raven and Garfield broke apart when they heard a loud banging on the door.

"What are you two doing in there?" Jinx shouted from the other side of the door. "You've been in there for ten minutes!"

Raven and Gar took one look at each other and turned red. They smiled shyly at each other for a few seconds before collapsing onto the floor, laughing uncontrollably. Raven squealed as Gar crawled over to her and began tickling her.

The door burst open and everyone came back into the room to see the two of them laughing on the floor while Gar tickled Raven.

"What's going on?" Jinx demanded as the two stopped laughing and stood up. Raven and Gar looked at each other and began giggling again.

"Nothing," Raven almost choked on her laughs. Jinx gave her a look that strongly reminded Raven of her mother. Then, to match the look on her face, Jinx walked over to her laughing friend, seized her arm, and began dragging her out of the room.

"Excuse us for a moment," Jinx dragged Raven all the way out of the basement and up to the kitchen.

"What happened?" Jinx asked after sitting Raven down in a chair.

"Nothing!" Raven insisted, but felt her face burn as she said this, and she knew Jinx would see through her lie.

"Come on, Rae, I know you better than anyone," Jinx frowned with her hands on her hips. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Raven wasn't sure what to say. She looked away from Jinx's accusing gaze and bit her lip. Part of her wanted to be able to jump up and down and celebrate with her friend, but the other half wanted to keep what had happened between her and Gar between her and Gar.

She looked back up at Jinx, who now had a sly smile pasted on her face. She laughed, most likely at the look on Raven's face.

"Did I scare you?" she asked, laughing.

"Just a little bit," Raven admitted, a small grin coming across her face.

"You do know I was just kidding," Jinx said, still laughing. "I honestly don't care what went on between the two of you down there." Raven stood up, put a hand on her hip, and raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay, so I do care. But I'm not gonna make you tell me if you don't want to."

"Thanks," Raven gave Jinx a hug. After releasing her, however, she looked at her suspiciously and asked, "Why did you say you liked Garth the best though? I thought you liked Vic."

"Not anymore," Jinx said nervously, looking around to make sure no one was within earshot. "Garth and I just kind of, I don't know, connected tonight. Or something like that anyway.

"I know exactly what you mean," Raven thought back to how she and Gar had done the same.

"So, you ready to go back downstairs?" Jinx asked.

"Yeah," Raven nodded, and the two friends ran back downstairs to see everyone crowded around an open closet door.

"Uh, Jinx?" Raven asked, feeling a hot prickle of fear creep up her neck. "What does your mom keep in there?"

"Oh, crap," Jinx muttered. "That's where all the photo albums are."

"What!?" Raven shouted, attracting the attention of everyone in the room. She dashed down the stairs and over to where everyone was gathered to see an open album with pictures of two little babies. "Oh no."

"Sorry, guys," Bea laughed. "We couldn't resist looking." Raven felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up from the embarrassing pictures to see Gar.

"Listen, if it makes you feel better, I'll bring one of my baby pictures to school on Monday," he said, smiling. "My mom took a good one of me running around the house with fluffy Elmo pajamas on."

"Well, at least you're not –" Raven broke off as Jinx came over.

"Why are you all looking at pictures of me in the bathtub?" Jinx asked, turning red. She grabbed the photo album and snapped it shut.

"Don't worry, we'll have an embarrassing photos marathon on Monday," Garth laughed. "Everyone bring in a baby picture."

"Ha ha, very funny," Raven said sarcastically. Then she smiled. "You owe us for looking at those. You all had better bring in good ones."

"My parents have enough baby pictures of me to embarrass me for the rest of my life, don't worry about that," Robin smiled. "They're obsessed with taking pictures."

"So…" Jinx cast around for something to say. "Anyone want some food?"

Everyone agreed that this was a good idea, so the group made their way up to the kitchen.

Jinx opened both the pantry and fridge, and took out a large bottle of juice and some crackers.

"Her parents are health nuts," Raven whispered to Gar. "They don't let her or Melvin eat any junk food unless it's a birthday cake." She went over to help Jinx get out cups and plates, and soon everyone was stuffing their faces.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, they all went back downstairs.

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Jinx asked, looking around at her large basement. "We could watch the rest of Napoleon Dynamite before everyone has to go."

This was agreed upon, so the group all settled back into their seats and watched the rest of the movie. Only this time no one spoke unless they were laughing, and Garfield held Raven in his arms.


	21. The End

_Well, everyone, this is the last chapter of the High School Titans...Part one! Scared you, didn't I? Don't worry, I'm writing a second part, but I'm separating them because the next one is kinda angsty._

_And, of course, here it comes, I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_

"Wow, I can't believe how late it is," Raven said sleepily. The movie had just ended, and she had been about to fall asleep when the clock had announced that it was 1:30 at night. It wasn't hard to fall asleep in Jinx's basement; it was always warm and the furniture and pillows were very soft.

Today, however, it was even easier for Raven to doze off. Garfield had held her throughout the entire movie, and had refrained from his usual belly laugh and instead had used a quieter and softer one. She had rested her head on his shoulder, and he had kept his arms around her the entire time.

"Okay, lovebirds, time to break it up," Jinx threw a pillow at Gar and Raven, making both of them jump.

"Hey!" Gar said, slowly sitting up straight. Raven quickly moved aside, and Gar picked up the pillow Jinx had thrown and chucked it back at her. She ducked, and it instead hit Leo in the face.

"What was that for?" Leo asked as everyone else began to laugh. He picked up a pillow as well, and threw it back at Gar. Gar and Raven moved out of the way, and it hit Roy.

Roy and Leo began a one on one pillow fight, and soon the rest of the group, laughing, joined in.

Their pillow fight lasted about ten minutes until the last two people, Vic and Robin, dropped the pillows they were holding and collapsed down into the heap of people on the floor.

"That was fun," Robin was slightly out of breath.

"Yeah," everyone else agreed. This made them all laugh.

"I think the late hour is making us all delirious," This comment earned Raven another bout of laughter.

"I can agree with that," Jinx said. "Trust me, guys, you don't want to see Raven when she's really tired. First she gets hyper, and then she gets delirious."

"Hey!" Raven picked up the pillow that was on the ground next to her and threw it at Jinx.

"Well you do!" Jinx said defensively.

"So do I," Garth said through a yawn. "So you'd all better hope I'm not too tired." Everyone laughed once again.

Their laughter was interrupted by the clock again. It was now fifteen minutes to two.

"We'd better got up and see if anyone's parents are here," Jinx said.

"Good idea," Leo agreed. One by one, the group hoisted themselves up off the floor and slowly walked up the stairs. They followed Jinx to the front door and looked out.

"There's a car out there," Jinx rubbed her eyes. "Geez, those headlights are bright."

"That's my dad," Robin took a quick look out and immediately recognized the car. He turned to where Kori stood. "See you on Monday, I guess."

"See you Monday," Kori gave him a hug, which he returned. Robin kissed her on the cheek.

"Bye, guys!" Robin said as he stepped out the door.

"Bye Robin!" everyone chorused back at him. He waved as he walked over to his dad's car. Jinx closed the door when he was safely inside the car.

"Who else's parents are we waiting for?" Jinx asked as she looked back at the group. All the guys raised their hands, apparently too tired to talk.

"That makes sense," Jinx nodded. "Do your parents know where to come, Gar?"

"Yeah, I told them where to come on the way here," Gar said.

Another pair of headlights could be seen through the glass door, and the car was recognized by Roy and Leo.

"That's my mom's car," Roy said. "She's driving both me and Leo home." The two boys walked out the door Jinx held open for them, and waved as they got into Roy's mom's car.

"Bye!" everyone else called out the door after them. The two boys rolled down the window and waved as the car was driven away.

"There are two more cars coming," Jinx watched as two cars approached her house.

"One's my mom," Vic said.

"The other's my dad," Garth looked at the second car. The two guys extracted themselves from the group and began walking down to the sidewalk to meet their parents.

"Bye!" the four girls and Gar shouted from the doorway. The two boys looked back and waved. Jinx closed the door as soon as those cars drove out of sight.

"So we're just waiting for your parents, right Gar?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Gar looked around at the girls. "You all spending the night here?"

"Yep," Kori smiled.

"Hey Jinx," Gar stepped closer to her. "Uh, is there anywhere I could go before my parents get here? I want to have a private word with Raven." Raven blushed as she heard those words.

"Yeah, you two can go back downstairs," Jinx winked. "We'll wait up here for your ride home."

"Thanks," Gar said, smiling. "You don't mind, do you Raven?" He turned to look at Raven.

"Not a bit," she smiled as he took her hand and led her downstairs. The two sat down on the large couch, sitting rather close together, still holding hands.

"Raven, I was just wondering," Gar paused and bit his lip before continuing. "Would you like to go out on a date sometime?" Raven's face split into a wide smile.

"Yeah," she said. "I'd like that." Gar's face turned red, and he looked around nervously before speaking again.

"So, would that mean that we'd be girlfriend and boyfriend?"

"Is that what you want it to mean?"

"Well, yeah."

"Then of course it would," Raven laughed at the relieved look on Gar's face. Garfield pulled her into a hug, but their embrace was cut short by Jinx yelling, "Gar! I think someone's here to pick you up!"

"Coming!" Gar called as he and Raven hastily broke apart. He made to stand up, but paused. "Raven?"

"Yes?" she asked, feeling a hot blush come into her cheeks.

"Can I kiss you again?"

Raven answered by pulling him closer and kissing him.

…The End…

_A/N: Well, that ends part one of the High School Titans. This was the more romantic part of the story, seeing how everyone was pairing off. In the next part, which I have outlined but not written, things get a little darker. Raven's family begins to have some serious issues. And by serious I mean more serious than Talmon slapping Angela. Her family has to sell their house and move into an apartment, which is not good seeing that Malchior lives in the room across from her. _

_Terra makes a few more appearances, all of which add to her being a total idiot. Also, Slade will be in the next part. I meant to include him in this one, but it slipped my mind. He is going to be Robin's evil karate instructor. Kitten might be coming back, but she'd be way out of character from the show. Fang is going to be in the next part, and so is Kole._

_Kid Flash will also be coming into the story. My Aqualad and Jinx shipperness vanished after watching Lightspeed, so there will be a little bit of romance between Jinx and Flash. Aqualad will just have to find someone else…_

_OK, and now to clarify who was who in the fanfic. Garth was Aqualad, Roy was Speedy, Leo was Red Star, and Mr. Sanguis was Brother Blood. And hopefully you all got who Robin, Kori, Raven, Garfield, and Vic were. If not, then there's no hope for you. :)_

_I hope you have enjoyed part one of the High School Titans! I would like to thank everyone that has given me a review; those little emails are what keep me writing!_


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